


City of Secrets | K-Pop Mafia AU

by SeoulAngel



Category: ATEEZ (Band), BLACKPINK (Band), EXO (Band), GOT7, NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), SHINee, Stray Kids (Band), SuperM (Korea Band), TWICE (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:08:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 50,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27780517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeoulAngel/pseuds/SeoulAngel
Summary: "i know you. you love the thrill, the rush, the danger. you're attracted to it like a bee to honey. you did not enter into this kicking and screaming."***Beneath the glittering skyscrapers and high tech industries lies a city with a dark underground and history where three girls find themselves unwillingly tangled up with.The girl who is sent 5,518 miles away from her home and only friend to clean her act but just ends up intertwined in the city's dangerous web of secrets.Her sister who is trying to balance a relationship with a man way out of her league and a demanding degree while feeling like everyone around her is lying.Her best friend who takes a spontaneous gap year to clear her mind, only to be presented with more complications.All must keep secrets to survive the city.***K-Pop Multi-fandom Fanfiction x Original Characters
Relationships: Bang Chan/Original Female Character(s), Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Original Female Character(s), Jeon Jungkook/Original Female Character(s), Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Original Female Character(s), Lee Felix/Seo Changbin, Lee Taeyong/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> secret  
> /ˈsiːkrɪt/  
> adjective  
> not known or seen or not meant to be known or seen by others  
> noun  
> something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others
> 
> ***
> 
> Hello!
> 
> First of all thank you so much for reading this book we really hope you enjoy it. This is our first k-pop fanfiction and we've put so much time and effort into it.
> 
> We are two sisters writing this book together so so if there's a change in writing style that the reason why! We've tried to include as many kpop groups as possible but we are only human and don't know/stan every group so if some of your favourites aren't included we're really sorry.
> 
> Just a quick disclaimer - this is a work of fanfiction and is not based on any of these idols lives or personalities, it is purely a work of fiction for the enjoyment of our readers.
> 
> It is a bit slow at the beginning (we honestly cringe re-reading the first couple of chapters) but stick with and we promise it picks up pace quickly, so stick with us for the first couple of chapters.
> 
> There are also really inconsistent chapter lengths throughout, so sorry about that. There is some swearing throughout, also this book does cover some sensitive topics, such as eating disorder, self harm, graphic descriptions of blood, injuries etc. There may be some mild smut along the way too. We'll be sure to put trigger warnings in front of the chapters which contain any of these subjects.
> 
> We have written and published the majority of this book on Wattpad but wanted to upload it to this platform as well, so will be updating quite regularly!
> 
> Please enjoy the book and don't forget to leave comments if you think it's any good
> 
> Soph and Ash  
> ~ Seoul Angel ~

The muggy warm night air hung around Maddie's fingertips, staying stagnant around her body, almost like a suffocating blanket she couldn't take off. She let out a long slow breath into the smoggy air, enjoying the feeling of the warm summer air entering her lungs, so similar to that to the cigarette she was craving. The gentle methodical rhythm of the city bubbled like a stream beneath her, London never standing still, especially in mid-august when it was teeming with tourists. 

She perched on the small rooftop just outside her bedroom window, it was always a safe space for her despite the vertical drop either side. Heights had never bugged her, the threat of falling only making her want to stand closer to the edge just to prove she could. She had done ever since she was a kid, climbing trees all the way to the top and dangling off the flimsiest branches much to the dismay of her parents. They would yell and tell her to behave, but her big sister would always smile at her and tell Maddie she was brave. 

"Maddie!" A voice barely above a whisper disturbed the night, causing her to search for the source of the voice, until her eyes rested on the pretty brown haired girl hanging out of the window next to her, allowing her to let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding in. 

Her best friend Alice smiled at Maddie perched on the small space of roof outside her window, getting comfortable on her window seat in order to continue their conversation. Alice's family had been their neighbours for as long as she could remember living in the London apartment. They had quickly become best friends, Alice's quiet temperament perfectly matching Maddie's wild personality. They went to the same schools growing up, liked the same music and had done everything together. 

"Couldn't sleep either?" Alice questioned as she lifted her warm thick brown hair off the back of her neck.

"I haven't been able to get a good nights sleep all week" Maddie replied with a sigh "I'm scared shitless to be honest." She pulled a cigarette out of her jean pocket resting it in between her lips, the familiar feeling bringing her some sort of comfort. 

"There's no need to be, you've always been smart" Alice reassured as she too looked out onto their shared view of London, once she turned back to face Maddie she immediately noticed the cigarette resting unlit on her bottom lip, "but you promised to quit, come on Mads." 

"I have quit" Maddie replied - a little too quickly to be completely believable, but embarrassed at the thought of her best friend being disappointed in her. "It doesn't count if it's not lit" she argued, sliding the cigarette back into her jean pocket not wanting to upset her friend. She could tell that Alice wasn't convinced but luckily her friend decided to leave it be for now. 

The pair stayed in a familiar comfortable silence, the hum of central London at night filling the air with a musical irregularity. 

"Alice?" 

"Hmm" Alice hummed in reply. 

"If my exam results aren't, well aren't what my parents are expecting they... they might send me to Korea" Maddie admitted, the thought that been circling her mind finally coming out. "Izzy says she loves it there - the culture and everything, and obviously my dad went to university in Seoul. I think they're hoping it will straighten me out or something. They've been arguing about it pretty much every night." 

Shock filled Alices eyes, quickly followed by confusion at what Maddie was saying. 

"But why would they want you to go to Korea?" Alice asked, fiddling with a frayed edge of the ancient baggy t-shirt she wore. "When Izzy said she was going to do her post-grad in Seoul your dad lost it. We could hear the arguing through the walls - all that stuff about him not supporting her and that she was foolish girl. It lasted for almost the entire summer last year." 

Maddie thought back to when her older sister had announced that she was planning to attend Seoul National University to continue her studies after she finished her degree in England. She had given many calm and legitimate reasons, talking about the culture and her heritage and wanting to learn a language but their father had not listened to any of it, threatening her with disownment if she did choose to go. In the end, her father had come round and they had made a compromise that she would do a two year course instead of four, and spend every long holiday back in England. 

"I know, it's weird - but they've pretty much made their minds up now" Maddie answered, not wanting to fully inform her friend how strange the past year had been for her family dynamic. "You know how stubborn my mum and dad are... and they think it would be nice to spend for time surrounded in Korean part of my ancestry. Something about cultural emersion." 

"What was the English and German not enough?" Alice joked, causing Maddie to roll her eyes at her friend, but a small smile to escape her plump lips. 

"In all seriousness Mads" Alice began, her smile fading from her tanned face "I'm going to miss you so much - but I guess we knew this would always happen this year, finally going our own separate ways." 

"Well, I think travelling the world for a year and then going to Art School sounds a lot more fun than resitting exams in some snotty Korean International school" Maddie answered, trying to hide the true sadness she felt about the prospect. 

"Well, I'm going to head inside - try and get some sleep for once" Alice smiled, "don't stay out too late, yeah?" 

Maddie nodded only half paying attention, her eyes hypnotised by the blurred lights of the city laid in front of her. She heard Alice's window close as her friend retreated into her room and Maddie knew she should do the same. It was getting late and the next couple of days were going to completely change her life - either for better or worse. Maddie knew what her results would be already, there was only really one grade a person could be awarded when they deliberately didn't turn up to the exam. 

Maddie pulled out the cigarette she was denied from having earlier, she placed it in between her plump lips and pulled out a lighter, the flame illuminating her small world. She tipped her head so the end of the cigarette lit then immediately released the button so the light disappeared, and all that was left was the distinct glow of the lit cigarette. She inhaled deeply holding the smoke in her lungs as habit before blowing it out into the already disgustingly polluted air, the smoke swirling around her head like tongues of fire. 

Once Maddie could feel the heat of the cigarette reach her fingertips she squashed out the light, hiding the tiny stub behind a large chunk of moss, where ten or so others were discarded. She climbed back through her bedroom window the even muggier air making her nicotine stained lungs struggle for oxygen. She walked stiffly to her en-suite while trying to regain feeling in her feet which had disappeared due to her being awkwardly perched for too long. 

Maddie considered going to bed for all of a second, before instead darting towards her closet and pulling out a short tight dress, still slightly stained with a spilled drink from a night she couldn't remember. It was easier to sneak out and drink her troubles away than have them haunt her as she lay in her bed wishing for the embrace of sleep to consume her, which it rarely did without the assistance of a heavy nights drinking before hand. Maddie put on some simple quick makeup and brushed through her natural curls, the died ash blonde colour suiting her tanned face from a summer of spending time outside. She grabbed a bag that matched the dress and tossed a pair of keys and her phone into it, although she had no intention of returning home or picking up any calls. Placing a pair of worn out heels on her feet she got ready to plan her escape route. 

Through the walls she could hear her parents yelling at each other, once again they were arguing. About her. 

She always seemed to be the cause of tension in between her loving parents, they never argued about anything else, apart from her. It was always her, the problem child that took their attention and time and sanity. the amount of principal visits, bad parents evenings, visits to police stations or hospitals - it was a miracle they were still married. Her mother always seemed to be more forgiving of her mistakes while her father could not tolerate it. She'd thrown the perfect life they'd provided for her away. 

"Why would you send her to that place?" Her mother cried, her voice slurred with the wine she'd undoubtedly been consuming. "We came here to escape that world, and you want to throw her in?"

"The threat doesn't exist" her father snapped back. "Do really think I would have allowed Isabelle to go if I wasn't sure that she was safe!? Plus, maybe it'll do her some good, she can see what the real world is like, and maybe then she'll stop throwing our money and time away." 

Her fathers words came as no surprise to Maddie, she had heard them many times before, especially over the past few years while her sister had been away at university and therefore unable to calm their father down. It also hadn't helped that puberty had hit Maddie early making her seem much older than she actually was and therefore able to get away with so much more. 

So to forget the harsh words, or the destruction she had laid on her family, she drank and danced. Quietly opening her door, she checked the hall way clear before sneaking past her parents who were tucked away in their bedroom. Once she was out of the apartment it was only too easy to find herself in the line for her favourite club, Dionysus. It was a relatively new club only opening the previous summer, but it had been an instant success in London - it's expensive interior transporting you from the streets of London into some sort of trance. 

It was no trouble getting past the bouncers. If any questioning glances a quick bat of her eyelashes and show of her cleavage would have her entering the club in no time. Once inside, Maddie immediately made her way to the bar ordering three tequila shots. Usually Maddie would have pre drinks before she came, but with the current circumstances that wasn't an option - her parents had started locking the liquor cabinet and all the local shops were iffy about serving her alcohol after some very strong words from her father. Legally, he could do nothing to stop her but Maddie didn't really like the consequences of breaking that rule.

She downed all three shots in quick succession, before ordering the first cocktail that caught her eye - something called a 'Pied Piper'. Maddie could vaguely hear the bartender telling her how it was the most famous cocktail in the chain of clubs that someone called Bangtan owned but she was only half paying attention, instead looking out into the hazy clubs surroundings. Maddie loved to watch other people, to track their stories and see through the facade of a simple club to the dirty dealing underneath. 

The bartender presented her drink which Maddie took after shoving some random pound notes on the counter. It was no secret that this club was owned by the infamous BTS - one of the many international criminal powers to emerge out of Seoul in recent years. They had begun to rival criminal business from both America and Britain setting up a chain of clubs and trafficking networks. Maddie didn't really care about gang politics and who owned what but all around her it was only to easy to observe various deal and under the table trades if you were looking in the right places. It was almost impossible to get gun licences in the UK, but here in this club all it took was some money, and boom, you had weapons that could mow down the whole of Oxford Street.

Maddie tore her eyes away from the danger that intrigued her so much when a handsome man walked up next to her and ordered himself a drink, his strong jawline reminding her of a young Korean Leonardo Di Caprio. Maddie was used to getting hit on, but this man seemed to show her absolutely no interest and she was curious to find out why. Maddie flipped her long hair over her shoulder to reveal her plunging neck line when no reaction came from the man Maddie decided to be more direct. 

"Hey" she smiled flashing her perfect teeth. 

"Hi" he sighed, his American accent intriguing her further. 

"Just got off work?" She asked taking in his formal attire and tired expression.

"I suppose you could say that" he nodded taking a large gulp of his drink once it arrived, "but it's none of your business."

"You're not from here are you?" She continued, ignoring his earlier and slightly rude comment. 

"No, I'm here on business" he replied shortly, taking another long gulp of whatever amber liquid her was drinking.

"That looks like it's going well" she teased, trying to get some sort of reaction from this handsome man.

He shrugged and downed the rest of his drink, "the work day for me is over, so I am now going to head back to my hotel room."

"I could keep you company if you want" Maddie flirted, giving him a sultry half smile.

"Yeah right, what are you? 18? Are you even allowed to be here?"

"Legal drinking age in England is 18" Maddie snapped back.

"Sure, well you're still too young for me" he answered, "I don't get involved with women who are only here on daddy's stolen money."

Maddie was about to snap something rude back, when the man stood up, looking down at Maddie on her barstool. 

"Let me get you a taxi home or something" the man offered, holding out his hand.

"How do I know if I can trust you?"

"You dont."

"You could start by telling me your name" Maddie deadpanned.

"Vernon" he replied. "Yours?"

"Maddie."

"Well Maddie, as a responsible adult-"

"Hey! I'm an adult!"

"Yes but not a responsible one."

Maddie couldn't come up with a response to that one.

"Let me get you in a taxi to take you home."

"I appreciate the offer, but I haven't even been able to dance yet" Maddie smirked. "Have a nice night alone in your hotel room.

And with that Maddie finished her cocktail and left the man she knew she would forget in the morning, heading towards the bustling dance floor to spend another night becoming part of one living creature of writhing bodies - to feel like she belongs for her momentary euphoria before waking up to the disaster that was her life.


	2. Chapter 2

Unlike the rest of Maddie's peers she hadn't found a low wage job to keep her summer time occupied. Alice worked in a small art gallery showcasing local small artists, where some of her own best pieces were displayed. Maddie had instead filled her time with intoxicating substances and illegal activity, spending time with a group of people who had washed their lives just as far down the drain as Maddie. Maddie had spent very little time at home, she avoided returning back to the apartment at all costs, she'd instead spent the summer nights where ever with who ever she could find. 

It was an ordinary weekday and Alice had the afternoon off of her job and to Maddie’s dismay had insisted on dragging Maddie away from an afternoon of smoking nicotine filled sticks and avoiding the police. Alice had just turned eighteen and as a result, her pockets were now lined with cash from distant unnamed relatives with more money than they could spend. Despite Maddie's poorer life choices something she'd always excelled at was her taste in fashion, from street style to the runway she always knew what to wear. So with newfound money and a desire to get her friend out of the shadows Alice announced that Maddie had to go shopping with her.

The girls walked around aimlessly for a while before deciding to go to their favourite restaurant. They ordered their usual meals, they could recite their shared order off the top of their heads, as it hadn't changed since they were fourteen. Despite the array of delicious food in front of Maddie, she barely picked at her favourite dish, just moving the food around the plate until Alice had finished. They chatted between themselves as always, but there was something off, form the way Alice’s eyes darted to Maddie’s full plate or shaky hands every now and again to the way neither of them quite knew what to say, they hadn’t exactly been spending much time together recently between Alice studying and Maddie doing anything but that they’d missed each other a lot and neither of them knew what to bring up.

After they’d eaten and split the check for the food only one of them ate they made their way into a department store, not looking for a throng in particular. They found their way into a cosmetic section, a small separate stand displaying a new Tom Ford that was probably too expensive to be stocked in a place like this, the shining good trimming of the packaging caught her attention and lured her towards it like a magpie. She picked up the sample and sprayed it into the air, letting the small fragrant droplets rain down in her, Alice was busy talking to one of the staff members about some eyeshadow palette, so Maddie made a split decision. 

She quickly assessed her surroundings, checking for security cameras in the way a compulsive thief had once taught her on a drug induced night earlier that year. When she was certain that she was not in an obvious position she picked up one of the uniform rectangular boxes and rolled around in her hand peeling off the security tag with her long nails as she did so. It wouldn’t come off immediately sending her heart racing but eventually she felt her nail slide under the stick plastic gibbing her the leverage she needed to pull it off. She double checked it was off and stuck it onto the side of the stand. 

She couldn’t help but to smirk to herself as she wondered why they even bothered with the tag in the first place if taking it off was so easy, she looked around again keeping a completely neutral face as she slipped the bottle into her bag behind the cover of the tall racks beside her. Once it was safely inside she played it off like she was checking the contents of her bag before zipping it closed, and waltzing off to go and find Alice. 

She wanted the perfume, and she could afford it too, but it was so much better when it felt wrong. There was something about the criminality of it that fuelled Maddie's more illegal tendencies. This was certainly not the most illegal thing she’d ever done, but it still felt so good, two of the girls exited the shop together, as they passed the clear security gates Maddie held her breath as the prospect that any second the blaring alarm could go off announcing her crime, causing adrenaline to pump through her veins making her dizzy with enjoyment. She let out a long breath when nothing happened unfortunately catching Alices attention. 

"You alright Mads?" Alice asked worry set into her pretty eyes. 

"Yeah" Maddie replied shortly, quickly dropping her face and casting her eyes away from Alice. She like to keep the two sides of her separate, the part of her that didn't care about anyone including herself who was happy to go through the days ruining every single one for a moment of enjoyment, and then there was the other part, the part she shared with Alice, the tiny sliver of herself that she used to keep those she actually cared about afloat, not to bring them down with her under the surface. As far as Alice was concerned Maddie would do everything she could to be slightly more, normal. 

"That's what I'm worried about" Alice whispered under breath, it was clear Alice didn't intend for Maddie to hear it so she ignored the comment, but it became painstakingly obvious that she hadn't been as successful with keeping Alice from her turbulent side as she'd previously hoped. Maddie’s compulsive and dangerous side was something both girls were happy to ignore, neither of them willing to being it up so it stayed covered up, but always there in the back ground. 

They somehow ended up in a jewellery shop being attracted by the glistening sea of beautiful ornate necklaces rings and bracelets.

"Do you like those?" Alice asked gesturing to a pair of dragon earrings. 

"Yeah I really do, they're so pretty. I think they match my style- what do you think?"

"Definitely, they'd be useful when autumn comes around" Alice replied. 

"Let me guess what you'd choose out of those" Maddie suggested pointing to the rows apon rows of necklaces. She was desperate to be the same girl she was when they were five or fifteen, before everything began to fall apart, when Maddie was happy to life in a carefree oblivion. 

Alice nodded eagerly in encouragement, Alice's pretty smile soothed Maddie ever so slightly as she turned back to the jewellery, she took one short glance at the sea of sparkling jewellery and singled out a necklace with a little moon immediately. 

"This one right?" Maddie said pointing to the necklace. 

"Oh my gosh yes!" Alice said astonished by her friends insane knowledge of her style, despite everything that had changed, maybe some things could be the same forever. 

"Why don't we buy them, to give to one another on results day?" Maddie suggested a hint of sadness in her voice “because I suppose that’ll be when we get confirmation that I’m a fuck up on a nice piece of paper” she laughed awkwardly. 

“You’re not a fuck up” Alice insisted but both of her girls knew she was lying for 5e sake of being polite, either way she agreed, the pieces of jewellery were around the same price so it worked out perfectly, both Alice and Maddie had grown up in privilege and so money had always just been a number, after all the two of them had grown up in identical penthouse apartments in central London, which certainly didn’t come cheap. They continued shopping for a few hours their hands full from holding bags of all different shapes sizes and colours. 

“Hey Maddie!” A voice called out as they made their way tit he exit. Maddie immediately recognised the voice and just continued, not wanting to have to get into a conversation with the man behind them not just any time soon, but ever. Alice must not have picked up in Maddie’s quickened pace as before Maddie had a chance to tell her otherwise she spun around to face the man who had now caught up to them. 

With an irritated sigh Maddie spun around too to face the tall man who was flanked by who were supposedly his friends, but not people Maddie knew. He’d been in the year above Maddie and Alice at school and had been everyone’s crush, and now he’d made somewhat of a name for himself on his university’s rugby team, and so had remained something for royalty at their school. And the two of them had met again at a mutual’s house party a few weeks ago. 

“What?” Maddie snapped, not a hint of a smile on her lips, her abruptness caused the mans lips to drop and his friends to smirk. 

He immediately furrowed his eyebrows and explained “I just wanted to say hi”

“Ok well now you’ve said ‘hi’ so I’ll be on my way” Maddie sighed with sarcasm dripping from her lips, she turned to leave but he caught her arm. 

“I just haven’t heard from you for a while” he continued, Maddie knew what he was referring to, after sleeping together after that party they’d had many casual hookups. 

“That was the point” Maddie sighed, she’d blocked his number after he got too needy, scared that he’d get attached. 

“What do you mean?” He asked, he was a genuinely sweet guy, sort of like a puppy with the sex drive of a rabbit, which unfortunately was not what Maddie was after. 

“I got bored” Maddie shrugged, she could see how this changed his confidence, he hadn’t been turned down probably since puberty and Maddie had to be the first “oh honey, you didn’t think you were the only one did you?”

“Bit harsh Mads” Alice tried to cut in but Maddie ignored her. 

“What we had going on, wasn’t serious, not to me anyway, you were just one of many men around that time” she shrugged. 

“You’re a bitch I hope you know that” he ground out, Maddie was embarrassing him in front of his fellow team mates, and this would definitely mean his reputation would take a blow. 

“You know what, you’re not the first love sick baby who got attached to tell me that” Maddie replied with such a patronising tone she could see Alice physically flinch “oh and if I were you, I’d get an STI test, we don’t want a diseased dick making the rounds” she added with a smirk before turning away, dragging Alice away with her. 

“Geez Mads you’re lethal” Alice muttered. 

“I know” Maddie shrugged. 

“You didn’t have to embarrass him like that” she added. 

“I know” Maddie repeated. 

“You could have been a bit nicer” she practically pleaded. 

Maddie just sighed and repeated herself again “I know”, both where was the fun in Alice’s suggestions, it was something Alice wouldn’t understand, she was actually too nice and pure “and before you ask no I don’t have an STI, but he’s now going to think he does” sh added with a sadistic grin. 

“Why the fuck would you do that?” Alice asked with a disappointed sigh, Maddie wasn’t expecting that reaction, maybe because she’d been spending too much time with people who were just as fucked up with her. 

“Because douches like him never get tested, and a little scare might push him in the right direction” Maddie shrugged. 

“The direction of the doctors?” Alice asked “that’s a waste of the NHS’s money” she mumbled. 

“Not if he has one it’s not” Maddie countered, it took a while after their interuption for the girls to refine their rhythm. Maddie just knew from the way Alice was acting that the whole situation and made her uncomfortable as they’d both been forced to acknowledge the other side to Maddie. 

***

They had made their way home late afternoon and Maddie by some miracle had convinced Alice to go up to a club with her. Maddie had been clubbing quite a bit because her eighteenth birthday came around last October, not that her age had ever stopped her from going out and getting drunk. But Alice had only turned eighteen in June and with exams and her summer job she hadn't found the time to think let alone go clubbing, and unlike Maddie she wasn't willing to buy a fake ID, and the both of them knew that. 

"Oh my god Moore, you look like a fucking god" Maddie groaned from her bed taking a drink straight out of the vodka bottle in her hand, the girls were getting ready to out at Maddie's place and were having a hell of a lot of fun doing it, they had pre-drinks, good music and each other.

"Don't you think it's a little short" Alice asked pulling down the hem of her tight black t-shirt dress. 

"Not with legs like those it isn't" Maddie said hyping up her friend, she tossed her a cropped frayed baggy denim jacket to make her simple spaghetti strap dress a bit more interesting. It was 11:30pm and the girls taxi could show up at any minute, so Maddie just grabbed her lip gloss and bag and re adjusted her skirt. 

Maddie quickly checked her phone, just a stream of messages from boys she didn't have the effort to keep on, she slipped on her worn black heels and grabbed Alices arm, the taxi having texted to say they were downstairs. 

They headed to the elevator together deciding stairs+heels could only result in disaster. Maddie slipped into the black cab first followed by Alice, and put on her seatbelt. 

"The Dionysus night club please" she said an undetectable slur in her voice, she let a small smile grace her lips as thoughts of previous nights at the said bar filled her mind. It had a sort of wild untameable energy to it, it oozed excitement and danger, and Maddie loved it. 

***

Hot heavy breaths ricocheted against the cool concrete walls, like a choir in a cathedral. The sound bellowed around the alleyway in a crest crescendo of melodic dissonance, the irregular rhythm of a limped run created a tempo to the irritatingly loud symphony of sound. The middle aged man panted, begging his chest to accept the oxygen he was drawing through his lips. Cool sweat beaded on his scorching forehead, immediately chilling his skin as it greeted the hot sticky night air. He allowed himself to slow down, giving his leg, which oozed dark red blood a chance to rest. That was the first mistake that's would lead to his imminent bereavement. 

He took in a sharp breath as the ominous silence of the usually bustling city greeted his ears and chilled his bones. He knew it was only a matter of time before they'd find him, but after fifteen successful years of hiding, he'd foolishly let himself forget about the crimes that filled his youth and the criminals which had surrounded him. He knew keeping contact with him was always going to be a liability, but the opportunity to watch his friend nurture a family, two young girls, even if he did have to watch from half the world away, it was an opportunity he wasn't willing to let slide. 

As the sound of irregular rushed footsteps made their way passed the alleyway he was tucked in the man allowed himself to flinch, he remained tensed as the sound of shouts, native to the city, announced his presence to the rest of the pack. "We found you" a deep voice slurred in the mans mother tongue of Korean, a strange change from the Chinese he'd conditioned himself to over the past years. 

The man could only swallow the lump in his throat as the pack of men made their way to him, he was sure if he dared speak his voice would betray him, announcing his scared vulnerable state. "Now" the man at the front of the group spoke, his voice annoyingly smooth and calm "we have a few questions we wish to ask you"

"I don't know anything" the man quickly answered still howling his bleeding leg "I'm barely in touch with the nation nowadays" he added. 

The front man let out a low chuckle "we don't care about SM, we couldn't care less about what's happening in Seoul" he added.

"Then what do you want from me?" The man practically begged. 

"Just some information" he replied, his voice ever smooth "about an old friend of yours" he added "care to take us on a trip down memory lane?" He questioned with a sickening smirk, before the world turned sideways and everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading this book and we hope you enjoyed the second chapter. we are going to try and update weekly but it might vary depending how busy we are. please leave any feedback and we hope you are all safe and healthy!


	3. Chapter 3

Maddie woke up on the day that would confirm everything Maddie had been trying to ignore to the sound of her screaming parents. They were arguing continually at the moment, so it was rare to get any peace. Maddie was well aware that they were arguing about her and therefore naturally it was her fault, but she still felt bitter about it. Maddie’s parents were so loving, they’d always been affectionate with each other and throughout Maddie’s childhood hadn’t really argued much unless a sensitive topic that Maddie had always been sheltered from came up, she used to be curious what her parents would argue about in hushed whispered while her sister and her were supposed to be asleep, but over the years she’d stopped caring, like most other parts of her life. More recently, their arguments hadn’t been subtle or hidden at all, they’d been yelled through the apartment, sometimes so loud that she’d get a text from Alice asking what was going on, but there was always the same reply, they were arguing about their turbulent youngest daughter. 

Maddie's mind slowly de-fogged as she shook of the slight hangover she had from the excessive stress drinking she'd done last night. It wasn't the results she was stressed about, it was the ricochet of events that were bound to play out once her parents found out that she had indeed properly thrown her life away. Maddie and Alice had decided to open their results in private then go and see each other with the news, whether it was good or bad. Maddie sat up in her huge bed and stretched, she quickly checked her phone to look at the time and immediately regretted it, as she was bombarded with thousands of posts and messages about results, most people had done very well, their school was a very prestigious private school in the city centre, so it was expected that all students do very well, Maddie was very much the black sheep in the school, no one else was like her. 

She walked over to her laptop which was currently plugged in on her desk. And opened her results.

Textiles- A*  
Maths- U  
Chemistry- U

Maddie was actually very pleased with her results, well she was pleased with textiles, she didn't actually attend any of her other exams so wasn't surprised that she'd failed both, a U was the immediate grade for an empty exam paper and as Maddie wasn’t there to answer any of the questions it was expected. From the sound of their shouts she could tell that her parents were in the study so she hit print, knowing it was safer for them to just see the results instead of her having to tell them herself. It wasn’t that she was scared of her parents, they knew just as well as she did of her failure from many meetings with principles and hysterical teachers whom she’d accidentally convinced into quitting their position, honestly it was a miracle she’d not been expelled, though keeping Maddie out of jail and in school was one of her dads talents and of course her common a sense from their home. She heard the sound of the printer whirring, followed by a confused silence, then a gasp of recognition from her mother, then the booming voice of her father, juts as she’d expected. 

"Madison!" His deep voice echoed around the apartment. Maddie knew she had no choice but to go and face her inevitable doom. She sluggishly dragged her legs out of the comfort of her room and made her way to the kitchen. 

She sat at the kitchen table for ten minutes while her father lectured her and her mother sobbed in the background. Both of her parents had been high achieving, and as far has she knew hadn't done anything quite as catastrophic as Maddie had. And of course Maddie’s immaculate, perfect older sister, who had graduated from a top British university with firsts and a whole accolade of recommendations, and now she was at a globally renowned university getting even more qualifications, when Maddie couldn’t even pass her A-levels. She could hear the muffled sound of a champagne cork popping out of the neck of a bottle, letting her know that Alice had done well and all of her hard work had payed off, Maddie couldn't help but smile a little bit. 

"Why are you smiling Madison, do you think this is funny? Did you even hear what I said?" The rage in her fathers voice was layered with hints of disappointment. Maddie just shrugged in reply so he repeated himself. 

"You're moving to Korea"

Maddie did not hear that part of her fathers speech, she must have zoned out, her father could tell that by the baffled look on her face. She quickly composed herself before looking her father in the eye. 

"No I'm not" Maddie replied coolly, though somehow hearing it as an actual plan that was going to happen rattled Maddie slightly, but if her parents thought that carting her half way across the world was going to magically transform her into a replica of her sister and force her to start behaving and being obedient to every wish her parents had they were very much mistaken. 

"Yes Madison you are.” He countered firmly “Your mother and I have been planning this for a while, we suspected something like this would happen, so we've arranged for you to go and live with your Aunt and Uncle. You remember your cousin Johnny, don't you? They used to live in America"

"Of course I remember Johnny" Maddie shrugged, Johnny, Izzy and Maddie had been extremely close as children but as Maddie got older she drifted further and further away from her family, whereAs Izzy had stayed in contact and when she was first finally allowed to go she’d stayed with him "but I'm not going" she snapped back "my life is here"

"Your life?” He scoffed “Maddie if you call this a 'life' I'm afraid I've failed in raising you, you don't understand the struggles we've had to go through to provide you with safety, we've given you every opportunity to do well and you've frankly thrown it in our faces. We gave you the perfect life but you've ruined it with your childish behaviour" her father lectured, his brown eyes dark and cold.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me you never did anything like this in your teenage years?" Maddie shot back, she saw her mother flinch behind her father, she'd struck a nerve that she didn't even know existed, she knew very little about her parents life before she was born, and she was suddenly wishing she'd been more curious. 

"You're right Maddie, we all make mistakes, but some of us are able to learn from them, getting drunk once and making some bad choices is one thing but ruining your liver before you're even an adult and not to mention your lungs, that’s a whole other ball park. You'd think with your mother being a doctor you'd have some basic decency not to ruin the body she made for you" her father yelled, and it hurt, his words had finally struck the right place and Maddie felt as though she'd been slapped in the face. 

"Come on, Mum" she turned to her mother who was still sobbing "support me here"

"Listen Maddie darling" she sighed "you don't understand why we wanted you to be safe so much and that's not your fault. But I'm sorry, we have to draw the line somewhere and your father and I have decided despite our better judgment that it's what's best for you, you've ruined your life here, and as we've found before, when that happens it's best to just up and leave" 

"I have no idea what you're referring to" Maddie began "but I frankly don't care, I'm an adult now and it should be my choice what I want to do." 

"You may be an adult but you are still our child" her father shot back "and while you are living under our roof and as long as we’re bankrolling your activities and our blood is pumping through your veins you will do as you are told, for once in your life you need to obey us."

“But why the fuck are you sending me to Korea?” Maddie asked, genuine curiosity buried below her bubbling anger. 

“Don’t swear like that” her mother scolded. 

“No, I’m sorry but what the hell? You had such a shit fit when Izzy wanted to leave the first time to study there for what? A month? And you nearly tore this whole family apart when she said she wanted to go back and study there for real and now what? Your shipping me off to Seoul?” Maddie complained, she could tell that her questions were hitting the right spots because both of her parents flinched. 

“Madison, it doesn’t matter what the situation was like for your sister, this is you and it’s a completely different situation” her father explained. 

“What because she’s the perfect child and I’m the train wreck?” Maddie scoffed “so sending me away is an ideal situation so you can wash your hands of me for a while and pretend I don’t exist, but letting your dear perfect daughter out of your line of sight is such a hard ship?”

“It’s not like that Maddie” her mother tried to convince but Maddie just laughed. 

“No? Because from where I’m sitting it looks a lot like that” She countered “I know I’m a burden and you’d rather not have me around but you could have at least pretended” she spat. 

“MADISON” her father yelled, his voice so full of anger that it did silence Maddie for a while, bringing tears to her eyes as memories of childhood scolding flooded her mind. 

“You are being ridiculous” he snapped “you know very well that we love you, which is why we’re doing this, we’re paying for you to have a second chance even after you e wanted every penny we’ve spent on you”

Maddie didn’t know how to reply, it was true, she certainly didn’t her own money and drugs didn’t come free, and so yes, she’d wasted every penny they’d given her for a cheap thrill that never lasted. 

"Darling, I know you can't see this now, but everything we are doing is for you, we have only your best intentions at heart" her mother soothed. 

"If you have my intentions at heart why won't you let me do what I want" Maddie sighed. 

"Because Maddie, we've had to watch you ruin your self in the past, watch you get emitted into hospital on numerous occasions, we've had to watch you, even now, go against everything we've taught you, bailing you out of jail every other weekend, and now we find out that you've even ruined any chance you may have had with your future" her father sighed "we know you're a bright girl and I'm not idiot, I know why you have no grade for these exams. But I'm so done with funding your destruction. I'm not paying to bail you out of jail any more, or providing you with top tier private care next time we have to watch you half dead in a hospital and unless you take our offer and go to study and actually study, in Korea then I'm not paying for any further education."

Maddie took a moment to let her fathers words sink in. She knew she'd disappointed them and had always been a financial burden but she'd never thought about what it must have been like to get a call in the middle of the night because Maddie's stomach had to be pumped and they needed a parental signature or when Maddie had been admitted into hospital when her eating disorder had been at its peak. With a defeated sigh Maddie replied "if I go to Korea, and study, and get some grades, can I go to Paris?" Maddie asked, it had always been her dream to move to Paris where she would work in a fashion house, designing for top brands, where her smoking habits wouldn't be frowned upon and where she could indulge in a different kind of wild freedom. 

"Yes Maddie" her mother quickly replied letting her heart swell slightly before her father cut in. 

"On one condition; you get good grades, and I don't mean just ok grades I mean really good grades, like the kinds of grades your sister got. You stay out of trouble, and you stay away from party's and clubs. If you can prove to us that you can change then we can talk about revisiting that idea" her father explained with a stern expression. It was a fair deal, a very generous deal actually, but the only problem was that Maddie didn't want to change into the girl her parents desired, she didn't want to be the carbon copy of her sisters perfection, or like her parents, she wanted to be something completely different. 

Regardless Maddie nodded slowly as tears began to well up in her eyes "ok" she replied as her ragged breath rattled out of her useless lungs. 

"Great, I'm sure that you'll have an amazing time Maddie, don't think of it as a punishment think of it as an amazing opportunity" Maddie's mother attempt to ease the situation, pulling her daughter tightly to her chest, the gesture only really making it worse "your father and I will start to arrange everything then" 

"Your uncle can arrange for you to go to the school he works at, to retake your a-levels, it's one of the best international schools in the world Maddie, it's an amazing opportunity" her father added watching his wife and daughter with an odd expression. It was almost like he was confused as to why she was embracing her, like Maddie wasn't really their child, like he didn't recognise her. 

"And don't forget your sisters out there too, so you won't be alone" her mother added hastily "it's been such a while since you and Izzy have been together, it'll be good for you" Maddie knew exactly what her mum really meant by that, she hoped that seeing oh so successful Izzy again would magically motivate her to straighten herself out. It wasn't that Maddie didn't like Izzy, she adored her and admired her so much, which only made her shiny perfect life all the more difficult to bear. 

Maddie nodded slowly before leaving the kitchen and heading back to her room, Once the door closed surely behind her she let the hot tears that were bottled in front of her hazel eyes come streaming down her face, her breath was ragged as she weighed up the ultimatum. Maddie quickly got dressed, despite the terror of the morning putting a little effort into her appearance as always, she had an odd subconscious philosophy that if she looked good on the outside no one would be able to see the wreckage she covered up on the inside. She composed herself before rushing out of the house ignoring her parents calling out to her, begging her to stay in the protective bubble of their apartment. 

Maddie's mind whirred with a regret she couldn't shake, she knew that she'd had an arrangement with her parents that she had to get great A-level results in order to go to Paris and start her dream internship at one of the most prestigious fashion houses in the world. Her parents even promised to pay for the living expenses; but Maddie being Maddie, she'd wasted her time doing things she wasn't allowed or supposed to do, something about the forbidden was so attractive to Maddie. 

Maddie rushed to the closest tube station, knowing exactly where she needed to be right at that moment. The methodical and familiar rhythm of the train pulling her back into a sense of calm.

*** 

Alice's apartment was full of life, her parents were so proud of her, her results were far beyond their expectations. 

Phycology -A

Fine Art - A*

Criminology - B 

She'd done amazingly well and her parents and big brother showered her in praise saying things like "all the hard work was worth it" and "we're so proud of you", quite the stark contrast to Maddie's morning, she’d heard muffled shouting and slamming doors from the neighbouring apartment telling her all she really already knew. 

She got ready to go out and meet Maddie, glowing with happiness, she knew that Maddie and dine badly, and form their late night conversations she also knew that that meant Maddie potentially moving halfway across the world, but she couldn’t bring herself to let that ruin her mood, Maddie needed to get back in track and Alice couldn’t think of how to help her while she was in the same environment, maybe she needed some space somewhere new where no one knew her. 

She walked up the steps to the tube station and bursted onto the summer street which was oozing with life. They were meeting in Trafalgar Square, a special place for them since they were children, they used to climb on the huge lion statues and pretend to be Princesses, spending hours in the busy tourist trap much to their parents dismay pretending that they ruled over the city they loved so much. 

She saw her best friend, fashionable as always, standing under the left hand statue and rushed over to her jumping on her back to catch her attention. 

"Fucking hell Alice, you scared the shit out of me" her best friend sighed clasping her chest, dramatic as expected. 

"Aww you love me really" she replied wrapping her arm around her best friend and walking down the street to St James' Park. 

"So how'd you do?" Maddie asked an undisguised look of regret in her icy eyes, but also a bitter sweet warmth letting her know she cared about her answer. 

"Really well actually, A, A* and a B" Alice replied trying to hide her giddy happiness. 

"No way, that's amazing I'm so happy for you, yes, ahh you did so well!" He friend said practically jumping up and down with excitement "so straight out into the big big world it is for you" she added with an enthusiastic grin, Maddie knew all about Alice’s travel lust and how much she desired to see the world. 

"Yep indeed, I'm going to see everything" Alice sighed "and hopefully I'll get to do some art while I'm gone"

"You such a nerd" Maddie teased "I'm so happy for you" and she genuinely did seem happy for her. 

"Yeah I'm so excited" Alice replied beaming "but it does mean that I leave really soon" she added her face falling. 

"Oh, that's ok, I'm definitely off to Korea so you won't be missing much" she said in joking tone that did absolutely nothing to disguise her upset. 

"Oh that's official now?" Alice questioned with a somber tone, it was so difficult for Alice as all she wanted was what was best for her best friend, even if that meant sacrificing the little time they put aside for one another before they went their separate ways both out into the world. 

"Yep, I don't know any details yet though" Maddie said shaking her head almost in disbelief. 

"So I'm guessing that your parents didn't take it well" Alice knew about Maddie skipping the exams so she wasn't surprised at all Maddie just shook her head, although Alice already knew the answer from the shouting that she ebbed through the walls that meningitis "how about textiles?" She questioned, as custom all the creative subjects were examined earlier than the others so Maddie's passion was able to be examined before she well and truly went if the rails. 

"A*" Maddie replied with a goofy smile lightening the mood. 

"Of course, my fashion designer bestie is destained to dominate the runways" Alice declared as if it was an indisputable fact. 

"Only if you'll be my model" Maddie teased knowing that Alice hated it when Maddie convinced her to model her course work, but Alice was really really pretty and Maddie couldn't help but take advantage of that. "I've got a huge hurdle to get over before I can even think about that though" she added with a sad sigh. 

Maddie and Alice were known around their school not to ever spend time with anyone else but each other. They were both pretty and Alice was constantly approached by people because of her kind nature and inviting demeanour, but despite the many chances at alternative friendships she'd been offered she'd always stuck right by Maddie's side, the side piece of a reckless friend not invited, but she’d always stayed because they were more than just neighbours or friends they genuinely were like family, with a bind thicker than water. 

Alice sighed at Maddie's previous comment and as clockwork headed into the park hand in hand, it was just habit now, they would meet in Trafalgar Square and walk around in St James' park and eventually land up at the palace.

"So Princess Madeleine" Alice joked as they approached the impressive view of Buckingham Palace. 

"Yes princess Alice?" Maddie laughed the nostalgia from their chaotic child hood flooding back. They would alway want to play and Izzy would always join them coming up with the best game ideas, she was always the crown Princess and a classic feminist character showing how she would rule the country fairly, with a little bit of romance along the way, Maddie and Alice would be her little twin sisters and would cause havoc around the castle, falling in love with a different prince at every ball. 

Life had been so much simpler when they could take long walks with their parents to the palace, and pretend that they were inside having lavish dinners with various suitors living the fairytales you only found in story books, before they’d been faced with the real worlds and all the horrors it contained. 

"Why don't we have a ball?" Alive suggested putting on a fake posh accent. 

"Oh what a splendid idea, we can find ourselves some handsome princes to sweep us off our feet" Maddie replied joining in, a grin Alice hadn't seen in a long time on her face. 

"No one would think that you're such a romantic" Alice laughed stopping doing the silly voice. 

"What can I say, I'm a sucker for chivalry, it's a shame there's not a single soul in London who I've clicked with" Maddie moaned. 

"Well you've definitely sampled quite a few of them to come to that conclusion" Alice teased. 

"You're not wrong" Maddie shrugged before the girls made eye contact and immediately both bust out in fits of giggles, after a good few minutes of ugly laughing Maddie caught her breath "so should I expect several phone calls and texts about some steamy holiday romance?" 

"Haha in my wildest dreams, you know no one will ever reach my insanely high standards" Alice replied toying with the fantasy of a holiday fling. 

"Who are you waiting for? Superman?" Maddie said looking up into the sky "oh I think I see him up there" she said pointing to a bird before she started yelling "SHE'S DOWN HERE" catching the attention of the people around them at the busy tourist sight. 

"Shhh" Alice hushed through her laughs, trying to get Maddie to shut up she hated the attention they were gaining "anyway marvel is way better" she muttered. 

"Who then?"

"I'm not looking for superman just someone who isn't Jake or one of his stupid friends"

Jake, the man on the top of Maddie's hit list, even above all of Maddie's crappy ex boyfriends. Jake was Alice's ex boyfriend and an official dickhead, him and Alice had been going out for years, Alice had always been better at the long lasting relationships, and he one day decided that Alice was no longer enough for him, so he cheated on her for nearly half a year behind her back, it's safe to say that when she found out in a rare moment of unity Maddie and Alice's big brother beat the shit out of him and made sure he knew who he'd messed with, but regardless he'd kept pestering Alice the whole way through year 13 trying to get her back, and as a result all other boys had stayed clear. 

"Yeah well he'll leave you alone eventually" Maddie reassured "plus he won't get on a plane and follow you to wherever your travels take you"

"Yeah let's hope not or I'm definitely filing a restraining order" Alice laughed only half joking. 

They wondered around for a while taking a tourist style photo as tradition permitted, and chatting as they basked in the morning sunlight.

"Let's give each other our presents" Alice suggested while they sat on one of the only free park benches they could find. 

"Yeah ok" Maddie said pulling out the box from her bag, they already knew what they were but thanked each other like they were surprises. "I also got you this" Maddie said pulling out another box

"What is this?" Alice said clearly very shocked, she hadn't got Maddie anything extra so immediately felt bad. 

She opened the little white box to reveal a small silver lion charm, it was a lying down lion nearly identical to the ones in Trafalgar Square. 

"It's for your charm bracelet, so you don't forget me when you go off travelling the world, and so you remember to be a bit braver and to have fun" Maddie explained not wanting to make a big deal out of her uncharacteristic act of thoughtfulness and sincerity. 

"Mads it's amazing" Alice said tears in her eyes, which made Maddie start to tear up too, she pulled Alice into a tight hug and they sobbed on each others shoulders. 

"I'm going to miss you so much Mads" Alice's sobbed wiping the never ending flow of tears form her face, it was not just going to be hard being separated from Maddie, it was going to be boarder-line impossible. 

"Thank god for FaceTime" Maddie replied brushing the tears off of her face too "and waterproof mascara" 

Both the girls started to laugh in a teary mess, Maddie put the charm on Alices ever present bracelet and they headed off into the city holding on to each other like the other might randomly just disappear if they loosened their grip.


	4. Chapter 4

Johnny Suh watched over the floor of Limitless as people milled around drinking, laughing but most importantly gambling. The sound of the roulette wheel to the shuffling of cards was music to Johnny's ears as he watched endless amounts of people waste endless amounts of money. Limitless was one of the best Casinos in Seoul and drew a crowd every night wanting to experience the lavish decorations or taste the infamous Cherry Bomb cocktail that was said to give you the best night of your life.

He looked over to the bar where Yuta and Taeil stood by the edge waiting for the delivery of their signature cocktails secret ingredient. The drug they called 'Red Flavour' was put into the drink in a small enough amount to not be dangerous but just enough to have a wild night and forget everything in the morning. Yuta checked his watch for the fifth time within 30 seconds as Taeil placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Johnny couldn't help but scoff at their worries. He knew she wouldn't be late. 

As soon as he had the thought, two beautiful woman dressed in sparkly evening dresses started making away across the floor gripping tightly onto their clutches. Johnny looked fondly down at their long time business partners as they made their way towards the two boys waiting for them. At least two members of Red Velvet would visit limitless this time every week for a top up of the 'red flavour' that they smuggled into the city. This week Joy and Wendy - who looked stunning as always - made their way confidently across the casino towards the waiting boys. Johnny could see from his position above the bar that both men were giving appreciating smirks at the two beautiful women. As they arrived, they exchanged a few words with the boys casually before Joy opened her clutch and passed Yuta a small purse which Johnny knew would be full of the drug. The exchanged a few more words before the girls sauntered away with a trail of men staring at them as they left.

Yuta and Taeil waited until they left before disappearing behind the bar to start mixing the drug in with the cherry liquor used to make their cocktail. Johnny sighed in relief as the main worry of the night left, and allowed himself to relax against the railing. He looked down across the floor again making sure that it was manned with at least five members of NCT. The gang he was part of had the most members in Seoul and was part of one of the biggest crime 'families' run by the mysterious SM. They controlled a large district of Seoul's suburbs, where the police didn't bother to come knowing it was gang territory. 

He spotted Jaehyun flirting with a woman at the bar while ordering her a drink which would have more alcohol than the woman was expecting to make her loose her wits enough for him to take the beautiful gold bracelet around her wrist. Lucas and Doyoung sat a the blackjack table keeping an eye out for cheats and placing large bets to force other players to loose more money. Jungwoo was doing a similar thing at the poker tables, his easy smile and whispering in a brunette girls ear making her fluster and put in all her chips. Finally, Ten sat at the roulette table, eyes watching the movement of the ball, knowing where it was going to land in advance and therefore throwing people off by his own bets.

Johnny smiled in satisfaction glad that the casino had remained running smoothly while Taeyong was having a meeting with their senior. He looked across the top floor where his office was and was surprised to see the door open. Suho and Kai left, both heading towards the staircase that would take them to the back exit where they could leave undetected. Johnny couldn't help the curiosity at what had made the leader of EXO and one of their best fighters come all the way to limitless to discuss. He watched as after a couple more minutes Kun and Mark left the office - both leaders of different sub-units they were privy to important meetings. Johnny always felt slight jealously at this privaledge but he knew he would know soon enough.

Mark, his flatmate of almost two years walked towards him as Kun disappeared in the crowd of people on the casino floor. 

"Hey" Mark said, "Taeyong's not in the mood to be disturbed right now so he wants you to keep an eye on things for the rest of the night."

Johnny nodded in acknowledgment knowing better than to question his bosses descion. He thought about what the red headed man was thinking about or planning in his lavish office but tried not to dwell on it.

"What did EXO want?" Johnny asked, as he and Mark both looked down on the casino floor where Jaehyun was now escorting the women to a darkened room to continue his seducing.

"Well the good news is Chanyeol-hyung proposed to Baekhyun. They're gonna get married next month and we're all invited. It's going to be super lavish."

"Ahh, following in Chen's footsteps. Good for them. It will be nice to see everyone again, especially Shinee - they've been really distant since, you know"

Johnny didn't need to go on as everyone who worked for SM knew about Jonghyun but no one wanted to talk about it. Trying to clear the slight tension that had appeared Johnny asked "so if that's the good news, what's the bad news?"

"Sehun and D.O. found out some intel that JYP are manufacturing a new drug called TT to rival Red Flavour. It'll be distributed in their clubs and is the same formula just more addictive."

"So were gonna shut it down?"

"Possibly. We don't want to start a gang war or anything but we'll keep our eye on it. 127 are gonna monitor it in Seoul and WayV are spreading to Beijing and Bangkok to look at the manufacturing. I'm gonna set the Dreamies on reconissance" Mark summarised. 

"Sounds like you've got it all planned out" Johnny teased nudging the younger boys, Mark smiled in reply but it didn't reach his eyes, he still seemed to be focused "what is it? What else did they say?"

"Huh?" Mark muttered coming out of his thoughts, once he registered Johnny p's question he shook his head and answered "not much, just an old time SM member got attacked in Beijing, no ones sure who did it or why"

"Could it be JYP?" Johnny questioned. 

"Doubt it" Mark shrugged "what do you think?"

Before Johnny could answer his phone started buzzing in his back pocket. Sighing apologetically he pulled out his phone and check the caller ID.

Swearing under his breath he showed mark the screen who's eyes widened in laughter. Johnny just hit him on the back of his head and headed to a quiet corner before taking a deep breath and picking up.

"Hi mom"

"Hi Johnny, how are you sweetie?"

"I'm good mom, just at work right now" he replied, trying to hide the noise of the casino. As far as his mom knew he worked for a company selling stationary - finding out her son was a criminal instead of a respectable business man could break his moms heart.

"At this time of night?"

"We had a big order come" Johnny smoothly replied to his mother's question. "Anyway mom, what makes you call?"

"I just had a call from your uncle" his mother began.

"Oh yeah how has he been? Johnny replied as a smile appeared on his face. He had always liked his mums younger brother who had always given Johnny great presents and great memories. He was also fond of his cousins who he treated like little sisters as they were 4 and 6 years younger than him respectively. They had often travelled to London from Chicago to meet up with them.

"He's good, but Maddie on the other hand is not" his mom replied. "She failed two of her a-levels and her parents are furious. They blame it on the parties and boys and drugs and overall rebellion so they're sending her to Korea to clean up her act."

"I didn't realise things were so bad" Johnny exclaimed. "Izzy has been doing so well with the scholarship and masters programme at SNU."

"Yes, well those two girls were always very different when it came to school weren't they? Anyways maddie is going to attend the school your father teaches at to retake her exams and needs somewhere to stay. I was originally thinking she could live with us but me and your father thought she'd rather spend time with you. I know you and mark have a spare room and your uncle would contribute rent."

Johnny considered the option before repling. He knew his mother was telling him that this was what was going to happen instead of asking him but he was worried about maddie finding out about NCT. However, he and mark did live out of the house most of the boys lived in so there should be little gang activity.

"I'll check with mark but I'm sure that would be fine. Just tell me when she plans to come and I'll make sure the room is ready"

"Thank you sweetheart I'm sure she will really appreciate it" his mom answered sounding relived. "The spare bedroom here is currently my office and I really didn't want to give it up. I'll message you the details later. Look after yourself and get home soon."

"Yeah goodnight mom" Johnny said before hanging up the phone and heading towards the stairs that would take him to the casino floor. The night was still young and he had many hours of work left to put in.


	5. Chapter 5

Maddie shrugged off her bag and went over to her desk pulling her phone out of her back pocket. She went onto her favourites and FaceTimed the top number which was paired with an unflattering mug shot. The ringing sound that filled the room seemed to drag on for an eternity before it stopped and the disgruntled face of her elder sister, Izzy, filled the screen. 

"You know it's two in the morning here you daft doughnut" Izzy's gruff voice mumbled through the line. 

Izzy was squinting as the bright light of her phone attacked her sleepy eyes as Maddie realised that there was a small thing called time zones that she hadn't considered before calling her sister who was currently studying in Korea. 

"I'm sorry, I just need to speak to you and-" Maddie began before she noticed the muscular arm wrapped around her sisters waist and the head of fluffy black hair behind her sisters blonde hair. "Oh shit, are you with your boyfriend?" Maddie suddenly asked clapping her hand Uber her mouth, squinting through the screen to try and make out more in what must be a darken bedroom, she’d only been allowed to see one photo of Izzy’s boyfriend and the quality was awful. 

"Oh shit" her sister muttered, before leaping out of the bed much to her partners displeasure as her sudden movement caused him to fall onto the floor. 

"Owww!" He grunted before muttering to her in Korean to which she quickly replied with the only word Maddie being able to pick up being her name. 

The boy on the floor was stupidly attractive with messy black hair framing his drowsy doe eyes, suddenly seeing him go from a blurry smudge to HD glorious ness was a lot for her to take in. He was shirtless and Maddie could see through the surprising good quality of the call that there was plenty to admire along with various tattoos covering his left arm. Maddie couldn't help but wonder why her sister had kept him tucked away, maybe because he was not the kind of boy Izzy usually went for, all of her old boyfriends being usually plain and boring, a far cry from the handsome tattooed man. 

"Yeah that’s my boyfriend" Izzy explained as she quickly left the room heading towards the light of a hallway, 

“Why did you keep his so secret” Maddie laughed “you never told me he looked like that” she added teasingly. 

"Not funny” Izzy deadpanned “but you’re right I should have spoken to you more it’s just that you've been so stressed about results that I didn't think the timing was right and- wait shit! Results day! I completely forgot, how did it go, what have mum and dad said" Izzy continued to warble through the phone while Maddie watched her sister as she tried to find somewhere private in a house that was defiantly too nice to be her college accommodation. 

"Iz, chill" Maddie laughed. "Can you please just sit down somewhere all this moving around it making me feel sick" 

"Yeah sure just give me a sec" her sister replied as she continued to walk through the halls. Maddie watched with laughter filling her body as her sister turned a corner smashing into yet another stupidly good looking man with red hair and what looked like an amazing side profile through the blurry camera. 

"Sorry Hobi!" She shouted at the confused looking man before opening a door into what seem like a living room and collapsing onto a lush sofa.

"Right, sorry about that Mads it's a bit chaotic right now" izzy laughed running a hand through her messy hair, Maddie wasn't entirely sure why it would be chaotic at, as Izzy complained, two in the morning. "So how was results day?" 

"I'll answer your questions if you answer mine" Maddie bargained to which her sister nodded.

She took a deep breath, chewing her lip nervously before revealing her results to Izzy. Her sister had been a high achiever and had got amazing a-level grades leading to her studying not only in the top university in England but now also in Korea. 

"Well" Izzy interrupted Maddie's train of thought. "How'd they go?"

"I got an A* in-"

"OMG YES! That's my girl! I'm so proud of you, let me guess was that in textiles?" 

Maddie nodded in conformation before continuing. "And I failed the other two"

"Okay did you actually fail or did you just get a bad grade?" Izzy bargained trying to make her feel better. 

"I actually failed" Maddie admitted. "Which is fair enough considering I didn't turn up to the exams"

"Mads honestly. What have mum and dad said?" Izzy sighed in a voice that let her know she was disappointed without being too harsh. 

"Nu-Uh my turn to ask questions" Maddie smugly grinned. "So tell me more about your bed buddy" Maddie pressed wiggling her eyebrows at her. 

Izzy blushed at her sisters smirk, twirling a strand of hair around her finger - a nervous tick Maddie knew well.

"His name is Jungkook" she began.

“Yeah I know his name, that’s the bring stuff tell be about him” Maddie pressed. 

“Well he’s super sweet, and he takes care of me” she admitted not quite making eye contact. 

Maddie knew that they met when Izzy came to Korea last summer and while she was away back in England they’d continued talking. He was an infamous yet mysterious figure in the Song household, Izzy had been forced into confessing that he was a kian factor in her desire to return during an argument with their father before she argued her way back. 

"I can’t believe you’ve been tighter for over a year and all I know is his name and that he’s ‘super sweet and takes care of you’" Maddie complained down the phone as her sister started laughing at Maddie's scolding. " I need more details, like what’s his job, is he rich?"

"I think you'll find it's my turn to ask questions" Izzy mocked, parroting her sisters words from earlier. "How did mum and dad react?"

"Badly.” Maddie admitted “I'm coming to Korea to study there - resitting bio and chemistry at that really good international school our uncle teaches at." Maddie explained in the most simple terms possible. 

"You're coming to Korea!?" Izzy asked shock and surprise covering her face, Maddie couldn't tell if it was happy or not so she was cautious with her next words. 

"Yeah, I'll live with uncle in Seoul"

“I can’t believe you’re coming to Seoul” Izzy uttered in complete disbelief. 

“Geez Iz I know I Ming that be the best person in the world but that’s a little harsh” Maddie muttered, she had to admit she was hurt. 

“That’s not what I mean” Izzy began before Maddie cut her off. 

“No it’s ok Iz, I don’t want to be there just as much as you clearly don’t want me there” Maddie sighed. 

“It’s really not that Mads” Izzy insisted “it’s just that I had to fight to get here and your being forced here, it doesn’t really seem fair”

“Don’t even get me started-” Maddie ironically began before she was interrupted by the arrival of two more men who entered the room looking very disheveled causing Izzy's head to flip round. The first man was tall and stunning with thick lips and ash blonde hair pushed back from his forehead. The other had dark brown hair, with wavy bangs falling into his deep eyes. Maddie's breath was taken away by their perfect proportions and beauty that belonged on the runways that she loved to watch.

"IZZY HOW COME YOU ARE STAYING WITH SO MANY ATTRACTIVE MEN! How has this happened! Where did you find these fines specimens of humans" Maddie asked in complete disbelief her tone switching faster than a race horse. 

There was silence in the room as Izzy stared at Maddie shocked. The tall man started laughing before responded "why thank you" as Maddie realised too late that they might know English. 

She blushed as the men continued to laugh as Izzy explained who Maddie was. Maddie had gone through her whole life being able to gossip about people to Izzy in either German or Korean and it had slipped her mind that these old tactics wouldn't be so useful. Maddie muttered her embarrassment in German, cursing Izzy for letting her be so careless. The pair of them made their way over to Izzy peering into her phone screen. 

"Agh so you're the reason jungkookie is looking grumpy in the kitchen" the beautiful slightly shorter man laughed, his deep voice like honey to Maddie's ears although he spoke in Korean Maddie was able to understand him, she'd not used the language in such a long time but it was still familiar to her ears. "Well it's nice to meet you - sorta - I'm Taehyung" he looked like he was about to wave but quickly shoved his hands back into his pockets.

"And the tall bean over there is Namjoon" Izzy filled in "who is fluent in English just to let you know. He was my Korean tutor when I first moved."

"Hello, I'm Maddie" she introduced in a vibrant mixture of Korean and English that made her want to kick herself, her cheeks flushed a pink in embarrassment, once again, as she wished she'd just kept her mouth shut, once again. 

Namjoon nodded his head in acknowledgment before grabbing onto Taehyungs arm. "We'll leave you two alone although Izzy I would go speak to Kook, he's getting a bit but hurt."

The two exited the room leaving Izzy and Maddie alone. "I could kill you right now" Maddie ground out. 

"What did I do?" Izzy implored. 

"Why speak to me in English when one of them speaks English and you know how much I simp over men" she groaned. 

"Nuh-uh honey that not my fault, that's on you" Izzy teased. 

"So" Maddie began "you're staying with 4 attractive men and-"

"7 actually" Izzy laughed.

"What!? There's seven of them!"

"Yep, you've met Joon and Tae, the guy I ran into in the hall was Hoseok , youll met Jungkook in person when you get here I suppose and then there's Jin, Jimin and Yoongi who I hope to god we haven't woken up."

"He can't be as bad as you when it comes to sleep" Maddie teased.

"Trust me on this one, you do not want to wake him up" Izzy warned in a light tone. 

Maddie took a moment to realise how little she had spoken to her sister recently. Between her parties and exams and spending time with Alice she and Izzy had hardly talked and now she realised how much she had missed her big sister.

"I'm going to kill dad" Izzy suddenly stated after a few moments of thinking. 

"Sorry? What?" Maddie laughed back her sisters sudden cool gaze making her laugh. 

"I can't believe he gave me so much grief for wanting to study here, to the point of threatening to disown me if I went. And now he's practically carting you off here" Izzy complained. 

"That is ironic because he practically threatened to disown me if i didn't go" Maddie laughed, maybe it was because they were trying to protect Izzy from the horrors of the world and keep her in a sugary safety; and as Maddie had continually heard them say, they wanted Maddie to get a taste of the real world and decide for herself that it tasted bitter. 

"Did he really go that far?" Izzy pressed. 

"Yeah, he went absolutely mental" Maddie sighed "but I mean it was expected, he said he wouldn't pay for anything for me anymore" she explained “not even a fucking hospital bill”

"I'm sorry Mads, that's truly shit" Izzy sympathised "I'm sure you've heard this already today and I'm not one to lecture you but maybe this could be a good opportunity for you to properly clean up your act, maybe some good can come of this" Izzy suggested. 

"Yeah, I'm not really sure I want to change though" Maddie admitted out loud for the first time. 

"We don't want you to change mads" Izzy quickly corrected "we just want to put you on a straight path, what ever path that may be, whether it's going of to Paris or what ever it is you want to do, we just want you to have the tools to do it"

"I suppose that makes sense" Maddie shrugged. 

"I don't know how dad did it but you have a clean criminal record, I honestly have no clue how, you have potential, you're a smart kid, this could be good for you" Izzy smiled "you need to go into this with a positive outlook, forget about all of these little bumps and get back onto a smooth road"

"Why do you have to be so smart?" Maddie groaned, her sisters never ending wisdom was a trait Maddie had forgotten. 

"It's in our genes" Izzy teased. 

"This dude Jungle book must really be something for you to travel halfway across the world and go through all that shit for" Maddie laughed "all that bullshit about really clicking with the culture and loving the experience was complete bollocks"

"Jungle book" Izzy laughed "that's bloody genius" 

"You're kinda missing the point" Maddie laughed. 

"Yeah yeah alright I get it" Izzy smiled "he's definitely a part of the reason" she admitted. 

"You must really like that guy" Maddie nodded. 

"Love" Izzy corrected

"Jesus" Maddie nodded in approval "Any other major developments?" Maddie teased.

"Nah I think that's a big enough shock for one night" Izzy laughed. "So you have to tell me when you're flight get in Kook and I will come pick you up."

"Yeah I'd appreciate that" Maddie replied. "Speaking of kook you better get back to him and I should probably let you get to bed."

"Yeah it would be appreciated - I've got to sign up for class tomorrow morning." Izzy answered. "Well done for textiles yeah? And don't worry about mum and dad it'll be alright."

"Yeah thanks. Text me yeah?"

"Of course. Night mads."

"Morning iz" Maddie laughed before hanging up the call.


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as Maddie hung up, Izzy allowed herself to let out a massive sigh and flop back onto lush black sofa which she was sitting on. Like her sister she had forgotten the time zone difference and had therefore completely forgot about results day. 

Back home in England, A-levels were the most important exams and often dictated the next steps of your life. Izzy had worked her butt off for her own exams 3 years earlier and had reaped the rewards with her 3 A*'s allowing her to have spent the last 3 years studying in the best university in England. 

However, this left a sense of guilt with the now 21 year old, as her amazing performance had led to her parents having equally high expectations of Maddie. All that pressure and stress was probably the reason why she had spent the majority of the last couple of years rebelling instead of working. But Izzy had spent the majority of her late teen years chasing after Maddie, trying to shove food down her throat or keep her from doing stupid things, and Maddie hadn’t accepted any of her help, she knew that leaving Maddie, giving her some space would only allow her to go off the rails more but Izzy couldn’t waste her youth trying to pick up the pieces of someone else’s ruined life. She also knew that her being away from home hadn't done anything to help her fathers temper and harsh words.

Izzy, couldn’t help but feel slightly bittersweet, was naturally a little bit excited that her sister would be joining her in Seoul as she knew that Maddie would love the city's vibrant culture and shopping opportunities and it would be nice to get to see more of her sister, but there was a part of her that couldn’t really enjoy the idea, she’d fought so hard to be allowed to leave, she’d nearly broken her already fragile relationship with her father for the sake of being here in the city, and Maddie was being forced to go, it didn’t sit right with her. Since she'd been away from home she'd seen very little of her baby sister and did miss her a lot. 

Once again guilt racked Izzy's body as she thought back to last summer when her sister had begged her to stay in London with her or do her summer course somewhere closer to home, like Germany, but she had instead selfishly flown out to South Korea for a summer programme at Seoul National University. Maddie had begged her multiple times with tears in her eyes not to leave her when she was at her most fragile. The course had gone so well that she had been invited back to study post-grad after finished her degree in the UK this summer. She was ecstatic as it meant she now got to study Interntaional Relations at one of the best universities in the world while getting to live in a country she had grown to love over that summer, which wasn’t an opportunity she was willing to let slip through her fingers. 

A sudden crash sounded from the kitchen telling Izzy that Namjoon was causing havoc followed by Jin's yelling and one of her favourite sounds on earth. Jungkook's laughter was like music to her ears, and she could visualise the expression on his face as he reached peak happiness. Izzy found her face in a stupid, goofy smile just thinking about him. 

He had come into her life without warning and completely changed it from the moment she lay eyes on him. Maddie was right in saying that he was part of her decision to move to Korea for her post-grad, probably a bigger part than she would care to admit. The only member of her family who knew about Jungkook was her mother, she'd wanted to keep it secret from her sister and father knowing both had enough to deal with. But after over a year together, it was safe to say she was so in love with that it sometimes scared her.

Izzy couldn't help but think back to the first time they met last summer, as she leaned back against the couch and closed her tired eyes.

FLASHBACK

Izzy was close to tears, staring at the map of the subway desperately racking her brain for its basic knowledge of the Korean language as she tried to find the line that would take her back to her aunts house. Her phone was close to running out of charge and she had lost the phrase book Maddie had bought her as a parting present.

Trying to take deep breaths to calm herself, she looked at the big red dot telling her where she was. She started to trace the route that she had taken to get there before getting confused and in the wrong side of the city. Shaking her head she tried again getting more and more frustrated until with a sigh she gave up letting her back slide down along the filthy wall. She stayed there sitting under the map with her head in her hands until a pat on her shoulder caught her attention.

"Excuse me miss" the voice said in Korean, as she looked up with tears filled eyes. "You're blocking the map."

Izzy muttered a quick apology before moving and sitting down on one of the benches across the station hidden out of sight, trying to come up with a plan on what to do next. The man who had made her move was now finished studying the map and heading towards his train platform. Izzy couldn't help but marvel at the difference of here and home where if you looked slightly confused at least 10 people would come offering help. 

Suddenly, a man ran into the station looking slightly disgruntled as he quickly scanned the area before spotting Izzy. To her dismay, he ran towards her speaking rapid Korean which she had no chance of understanding. 

"I'm sorry" she said slowly in English, "I don't understand."

The man let out a sigh of frustration looking like he was about to walk off before more voices could be heard entering the station. Before Izzy could blink the mysterious man had sat down on the bench and grabbed Izzy's face with rough hands. She tried to open her mouth to speak but his lips quickly covered hers, kissing her tenderly. Izzy was so completely taken aback that her mouth stayed open in shock as he continued to gently kiss her. The voices were closer now, and by the fervent pace he was kissing her at, she guessed this man was trying to hide from them. Despite her best judgement, she started to hesitantly kiss him back, which seemed to surprise the man. The voices of angry men yelling in Korean was now starting to pass but the man did not pull away as his tongue touched her lips causing Izzy to gasp. The man took the opportunity to deepen the kiss leaving Izzy completely speechless - like putty in his hands. 

All too soon the man pulled away and Izzy got her first real look at him. Dark hair framed his face which had a sloped nose, dark doe eyes which captivated her and pink lips slightly swollen from their kiss. His jaw was littered with cuts and bruises along with his knuckles which she saw as he took his hands away from her face. 

"Sorry about that" he said in broken English, his Korean accent heavy.

"It's okay, don't worry" she replied, giving him a small smile.

"My friends lost game so they chase me" the man explained using hand gestures to get across his point.

Izzy nodded in understanding before saying in Korean "my name is Izzy. What's yours?"

The man looked surprised at the change of language for a second before answering. "My name is Jungkook. It's nice to meet you."

She smiled again in response. Izzy had never been so happy she had learnt some of that stupid phrase book as she asked "do you live here?"

"Yes, what about you?"

"I'm here for a summer course at SNU" she replied, almost 100% sure that she pronounced something horribly wrong.

"Ahhh, very good school" jungkook responsed, looking very proud with himself that he had answered in English.

"Yeah it is." Izzy was slightly taken aback at the situation that was going on, not quite believing that it was actually happening.

"Where are you staying?" Jungkook asked in Korean. 

"Ummm, here" she replied showing him the piece of paper with her aunts address on it.

Jungkook studyed it for a second before handing it back to her. "I can take you there if you want."

Izzy couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped her body as put the piece of paper back in her bag. "That would be amazing thank you."

"Don't worry - a favour for a favour." Jungkook smiles at her before standing up and offering his hand, which she took. He gently pulled her up and began to converse with her in a mix of broken English and Korean the whole way back to her aunts flat.

When they got there her offered his phone for her to put her number in claiming it was in case she got lost again, and as he turned to leave Izzy couldn't help the stupid goofy grin on her face. 

They had met again later that night in a club that Johnny had forced her to go to - he claimed she didn't know how to have fun so being the competitive person she was, she needed to prove him wrong.

After that, the rest of her summer was filled with meetings with him, both trying to learn the others language in more depth, passionate nights spent together and him showing her the most beautiful parts of the city. Every second she spent with him, Izzy had fallen more and more in love and leaving to go back to England at the end of august was painful.

But they had stayed in contact and she had enrolled into a formal korean language course. When he had to visit London on business - although Izzy had no idea what that business was - they would always meet up and spend time together. Izzy still couldn't quite believe that the gorgeous, talented man was her boyfriend - and not the kind she had dated in the past who were all self righteous and selfish. Jungkook was sweet and kind and god, did he know what he was doing in bed.

She had never been happier. 

END FLASHBACK

Izzy was brought back to the present by someone gently shaking her shoulder, before placing a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Come on baby, lets go back to bed." 

Izzy opened her eyes to see jungkooks smiling face gazing down at her as he offered her a hand to help her up. Izzy gave him her hand as he gently pulled her up, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. 

"You know I love you right" Izzy muttered, looking up at her tall boyfriend, his black hair starting to grow out past his ears.

"Of course" Jungkook replied, "I'll never forget the first time you said it."

It had been in London, on New Years Eve last year. Izzy had told her parents she was going out to meet some friends and her and Jungkook had instead gone to watch the fireworks over the London Eye. When the clock had strikes midnight, he had leaned in and kissed her, whispering "this year will belong to us" in perfect English. Izzy had stared up at him in wonder before replying "I am so in love with you." 

Jungkook's face had frozen like a deer in the headlights, his lips parted in shock. But then he grinned and pulled her in for another far more passionate kiss before pulling away and saying "I love you too - I think I have from the moment I met you."

"Your English has got way better since then" Izzy complimented as Jungkook began to guide her out of the room. She truly appreciated that despite whatever busy job he actually did he put aside time to be taught English with Namjoon. 

"Your korean in still better than my English" he mumbled grumpily, not liking to be beaten at anything.

"I had a head start darling" Izzy replied in English, causing Jungkook's eyebrows to furrow in confusion causing Izzy to laugh and place a gentle kiss on his cheek.

"Come on, it's 3am we should get some sleep" Jungkook ordered, starting to direct her back to his spacious bedroom in the luxury apartment all seven men shared.

"Yeah" Izzy replied, before a thought popped into her head. "What were Namjoon-oppa and Tae-oppa doing out so late?" Izzy asked as they reached Jungkook's room, her already heading to the left side of the bed.

"Must have been some emergency at the office - I wouldn't worry about it" Jungkook dismissed, taking off his t-shirt and getting into his side of the bed.

Izzy decided not to respond, ignoring the absurdity of the situation. She also tried to not focus on the fact she could have sworn she saw splotches of Red on Taehyung's hands as he went to wave to her sister before shoving his hand back into his coat pocket.

"Come here sweetheart" Jungkook beckoned, opening his arms for Izzy to crawl in between. She obeyed, allowing him to wrap his muscular arms around her and press his chest into her back. He turned out the lights in the room leaving them lying comfortably in the dark. Izzy traced the lines of his tattoos that she had memorised, the swirling patterns mesmerising her while Jungkook held her close and breathed deeply.

It was safe to say Izzy couldn't imagine a life without him by her side.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning - mentions of sexual assault

Alice had always wanted to visit the United states of America, but there was too much to see in the little time she would be travelling, so she whittled it's down to 3. She would spend three nights in New York City, then travel south to Florida and visit Miami Beach, to cross of something on her bucket list. Then she would go to California for a whole week, she would start of in LA, and Hollywood before travailing to San Francisco and then into the countryside. She fully intended in returning to the US after exploring other parts of the world a bit more, she had no intention of staying in one place for too long. 

She was stuck in a plane again, which was the only big downside to her travels, she'd seen the inside of a plane far to much for her liking. She was leaving Canada behind and going to the big apple. The art geek inside her was dying to visit the metropolitan museum and she'd always wanted to see the city from the Empire State Building at sunset. 

Maddie has always traveled a lot on her youth telling Alice of all the wonderful places she'd visited. She'd gone to America a lot to visit her family out there, and due to her parents hefty salaries and love of travailing Maddie had been everywhere in comparison to Alice. Alices father had a irrational fear of flying meaning they hadn't really had the chance to venture out of Europe. But that never suppressed Alice's lust to travel and now she was finally seeing the world form her own point of view not just from colourful descriptions of other people's memories. 

Alice was sat on the aisle seat trying to get comfortable. It was only a short flight so she didn't really have anything to do. She took out her sketch book which she'd taken with her to every country she'd visited, she started to doodle something random, lacking of inspiration, so she took out her phone and looked back on some old pictures she could recreate. 

She stumbled across the picture her and Maddoe had taken in results day in front of Buckingham Palace. A single tear streaked down her face as she started to plot out the picture in her sketch book. 

An hour and forty minutes later she was in America at JFK international airport, going through the tight security. After another forty minutes she was out waiting at the taxi ranks lined with the iconic yellow cabs. She dived into the first free taxi she found the driver putting her bag in the back. 

It didn't take long before she was in awe of the city all of the iconic buildings and monuments passing by her. Staying in New York was the most expensive leg of her trip and everything about the city screamed over the top and exclusive. She pulled out her phone to take pictures of the passing buildings making a mental note of what she wanted to do. 

-

It was 6pm and Alice was getting ready to go out to dinner, it felt odd travelling and alone having to experience everything by her self but that wasn't going to stop her form enjoying herself. But she was lonely in her hotel room, so she pulled out her phone and dialled the top number. 

A tightness in her chest eased up a bit when her besties face filled the screen, then her heart immediately sunk as she saw where her friend was. A party. Alice wasn't much of a party goer herself but she'd picked maddie up from enough to know that the kind of parties maddie went to aren't just a couple of friends having a few beers.

"Hey Aliceeee" Maddie said into the phone her words blurring into one. 

"Hey Mads, what are you doing?" She asked quietly, Alice had no problem with her friends destructive habits when she was there to make sure nothing too bad happened, to make sure she got out before she could overdose or do something stupid, but now Alice was was in the other side of the Atlantic and couldn't hold back her hair as she vomited up the contents of her stomach. 

"I'm just having fun" Maddie shrugged "how's New Yorkkk" Maddie sang the words New York like in Empire State of mind causing a few faces around her to give her looks. 

She got up and went outside of who ever's house it was. Taking her drink with her, she sat herself down on the grass, so she was in a suburban area, that meant she was far from home. Alice watched as she pulled out and lit a cigarette placing it in between her lips. 

"What have you been up to then?" Maddie asked her mind elsewhere, it wasn't that Maddie ignored Alice ever, Maddie was there for Alice when she needed her most, she never backed out when times got hard, but over the past few years Alice couldn't help but feel like Maddie was slowly loosing herself. 

"Well today I did a boat tour to the Statue of Liberty and visited the Met, and on my god it was amazing!" Alice burbled on about all the art she'd seen and she could tell Maddie's drunk state could only comprehend half of what she was saying but she was trying to pay attention and that counted for something. They talked about what Alice was wearing for her dinner and maddie praised her in her fashion sense, which Alice insisted was just Maddie's influence. 

"I'm glad that you're happy Moore" Maddie said addressing her friend by her last name. "I told you you'd love the met" she slurred.

"I'll call you tomorrow Song-a-long" Alice said needing to get off the phone, Maddie only causing her a deep seated anxiety that would only grow. 

"Okie-dokey" She replied in a sing sing fashion. 

"Please stay safe, and get home soon" Alice said realising that it was nearly midnight in England. 

"You got it boss" Maddie winked before closing the call. 

Alice had a sick feeling left in her stomach, and suddenly she didn't feel like going out to eat anymore. 

Alice couldn't help but think back to a few of the times she'd picked her up from a party, or had to drag her away from near death experiences, one particular night had haunted Alice's dreams for months afterwards and even now the memory was so vivid it made her stomach churn and her heart race. 

FLASHBACK 

It was a Saturday night in the middle of winter, and it was cold. It was unbelievably cold. If there was a cloud in the sky then it would have snowed but it was a crystal clear night and the stars made an appearance through the smog of London's sky. Alice was finishing up some course work for art and had lost all enthusiasm when she got a phone call from an unknown number. 

Initially she ignored it not in the mood to take a spam call but after the third time the same number had called she picked up. 

"Hello?" She asked down the line.

"Hey is this Alice?" a crackly female voice replied. 

"Yeah who is this?" Alice asked not recognising the slurred voice. 

"This is Mia, Maddie is here and she's really drunk she needs to go home, can you pick her up?" The drunk girl answered 

"Yeah what's the address?" The girl gave Alice the address and hung up, Alice rushed to put some shoes on and grabbed a coat and headed out of her room. 

"Where are you going dear?" Her mother asked from their sofa.

"Maddie" was all she replied, Alice's parents knew Maddie and what she was doing better than her own parents did, so Alice's mother just nodded understandingly and told Alice to be safe. 

Alice rushed to her car and jumped into the drivers seat, she'd only got her licence under a month ago so she was still quite nervous. But she just focused on putting in the address and followed to directions. 

After a good half hour of stressful driving down roads that you never saw car-less she pulled up to a house begging that it was the right one, she parked the car and got out pulling her coat around her as the cold nipped at her skin. She walked up to the door and knocked as loud as she could trying to be heard over the loud music that blared through the walls. 

She got frustrated when no one opened up and knocked again and again and eventually a short girl with long black hair opened the door, her makeup smudged over her face. 

"Mia?" Alice asked already fed up with the whole situation. 

"No, she's over there" the drunk girl said pointing to a platinum blond girl who was making out with a red haired girl. 

Alice just made her way inside the stench of alcohol and something less legal filling her nostrils. Empty liquor bottles were dotted around the room along side beer bottles of various colours, the light shone through the assortment of glass casting colourful patterns in the stained carpet floor, the recognisable empty little black plastic bags with the two facing trapeziums with the letters BTS littered the floor. She made her way over to the pair of girls and tried to get the blonds attention, eventually she just tapped her on the shoulder, she was greeted with an icy stare but Alice wasn't in the mood to be apologetic. 

"Mia?" She tried.

"What's it to you?" The blond spat.

"I'm Alice, you called me about Mads" Alice sighed.

"She went upstairs" she shrugged before turning back to her red head partner, and attacking her face with her lips. Alice could barely watch kissing scenes in films let alone the atrocity that was in front of her so very quickly she left heading for the stairs which were right next to the front door. 

Alice's limbs felt heavy as she dragged herself up the stairs making her way into the hall, she opened every door most were empty and one had a couple in who were to busy to notice Alice. She opened the last door on the corridor and practically screamed at what she saw. 

There Maddie was lying lifeless on a bed, her hair covering her bruised face, as some monster, some abhorred creature was about to thrust himself inside of her. It took a moment for Alice to react before she ran at him and pushed him of her friend. He clearly wasn't expecting any visitors and was stunned by his sudden movement onto the floor, where Alice was kicking him repeatedly, Alice wasn't a violent person, but she kicked him as hard as her weak little legs could.

Alice didn't know what to do so she just left him there groaning in pain. There was one thing she did know though and that was that this terrible guy was a lot bigger and a lot stronger than Alice was so she acted quickly. She pulled Maddie's underwear, which was hanging loose around her ankles, back up and pulled down her skirt, Maddie was definitely unconscious and hadn't moved at all during the whole episode, so Alice just picked up her friends lifeless form and dragged her down the corridor.

Alice really wasn't that strong so she was hugely relieved when someone came up behind her and helped her carry Maddie. It was the red head girl who had previously been under the useless blonde, and together they carried Maddie down the stairs. And out of the horrible house. Mia now has sprung into action and opened Alice's car door helping them get her into the passenger seat. 

"What happened?" Mia asked confused as to why Maddie was unconscious. 

"Someone was, was, about to advantage of her so thanks loads for leaving her alone" Alice spar her voice laced with spite, it angered her that Maddie's so called friends had left her but also not quite believing the words that spilled from her lips were true. 

"We'll deal with him" Mia said some level of understanding crossing her hazy eyes along with a sense of guilt.

"No the police should get involved" Alice complained as she strapped Maddie into the car. Alice argued with the girls for a while before realising it made no difference, right now what Maddie needed was a hospital. And so she got into the drivers seat and drove directly to the closest hospital. 

EMD FLASHBACK 

Alice shook her head, trying to get the thought of that night out of her head. The police got involved when Alice told the hospital what happened, and it was a big deal for a while, but the court dropped the case and no charges were filed. And Maddie never stopped going to parties - she was almost raped by some sick psycho and she still insisted that she loved to party. The doctors found traces of a classic "date rape" in her blood steam some kind of drug they called 'wings' which gave you about three hours of a euphoric high and then you crashed. A large dose led to unconsciousness when the high faded away. Alice knew that what ever was in those little plastic bags - that she had now sworn to avoid at all costs - were the cause of her friends misfortune. 

Maddie insisted that the whole episode hadn't bothered her, and that because she was unconscious and didn't removed it she didn't care. But Alice knew otherwise, it took Maddie a while to talk to any of her male friends again and Alice noticed how twitchy she'd get when anyone would touch her. But it didn't last long and soon enough she was back in her old bad habits. Alice was effected more than Maddie was, Maddie didn't remember a thing, but Alice did and had been kept up at night one too many times, she remembered having to call Maddie's parents and talk to the police, and clear up the mess that was left behind. 

Alice wiped some tears she didn't realise she'd shed and suddenly felt awful for leaving her friend behind, regret settled in her stomach, her mind whirred with irrational thoughts. She couldn't help but remember sitting at her friends hospital bed waiting for her to wake up. But none the less she pulled herself together and headed out into New York City night time, embracing the cold night air.


	8. Chapter 8

A huge suitcase dominated the majority's Maddie's bedroom floor, clothes and shoes scattered across the room, a huge makeup bag left open had all sorts of different high end makeup falling out of it. 

The muffled ring of Maddie's phone sprung her into action, throwing clothes all around to try to find her phone under the mountains of accessories, when she finally found it she say that her sister was trying to face time her, so she immediately picked up. 

Izzy was greeted by Maddie's exasperated face. "You're panting" she stared, a small smile creeping onto her face.

"Huh? Oh right yeah" Maddie giggled "what you up too?"

"Nothing too interesting, just at the boys', how about you?"

"Packing, but not too successfully, what should I bring I'm going to be there for ages and I don't want to run out of things to wear" Maddie whined.

"Don't bring too much mads, you can always buy stuff when your out here trust me keep it to a minimum" Izzy advised. 

"Yeah yeah ok, how many copies of vogue should I bring?"

"Your joking, right? Maddie just one for the flight you really don't need that much relax" Izzy said, not surprised at all by the question.

"Ugh, I guess your right, how about shoes? is 15 pairs too many?" Maddie said innocently. 

"Never too many shoes" a deep voice she didn't recognise said off camera with a very thick Korean accent. 

"SEE!" Maddie practically yelled, Izzy had never understood her addiction to fashion so the reassurance gave her some comfort "who ever said that's a genius"

Izzy just laughed and turned the camera to reveal a man Maddie recognised as Taehyung. In the light Maddie could see he not only was absolutely beautiful but also had the best taste in fashion that she had ever seen. His shirt had defiantly been on Gucci runways early in the season and delicate earrings hung down his neck.

"I knew you two would get along" Izzy muttered as Taehyung gave Maddie and boxy smile and cute wave. 

"I love fashion" Taehyung said looking at Izzy for confirmation that his English was correct.

"When I get there we are gonna have to compare wardrobes" Maddie giggled.

"Tae, have you seen kook?" Izzy asked in korean turning the camera back to face herself. 

"Oh he and yoongi hyung went out like 5 minutes ago. They looked rushed" Tae replied in korean that maddie could just about pick up.

"Why didn't he say goodbye?"

"I don't think he wanted to interrupt you guys" tae shrugged before picking up a stack of papers and leaving the room.

"You ok?" Maddie questioned seeing the confused and concerned look in her sisters pretty face. 

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine don't worry" Izzy replies shrugging off what ever she was thinking and returning to her usual bubbly self "let's we what you're packing then" Izzy suggested. 

Maddie nodded and flipped the camera around to expose the mess of piles of clothes she couldn't decide between, but Izzy didn't pay attention to any of that "Maddie, why is there tones of cigarette packets in your suitcase and nothing else"

Maddie scrunched her eyebrows turning the camera back around "I thought you knew I smoked, kinda comes with the whole disappointment child package" she joked. 

"No that's not what I meant, I meant more why the hell would you bring them with you. There are cigarettes in Korea you know" Izzy joked. 

Maddie laughed "yeah I know, but what if they don't have any I like, or they don't sell them to me" she shrugged. 

"Then there's an excellent opportunity to quit" Izzy suggested. Maddie just rolled her eyes, she may be going to change, but she wasn't going to change that much. "Any way, I'll leave you to your mad packing Mads,I've got to go, bye!" Izzy quickly said as her attention was draw to something of camera. 

"Yeah bye" Maddie was left with a black screen her face staring back at her a confused expression plastered on her face. 

***

Maddie had flown many times by herself, but standing in the line to check in her luggage her hands were jittery. Her parents had dropped her off, and her face was still stiff from all they crying they had done, she wasn't sad to be leaving her parents as such though, more sad to be leaving the city and her lifestyle, and angry that her parents were forcing her to do so. 

Luckily though Alice had left about three weeks prior to Maddie's departure, saving her the tears she would have spilt if she'd been there to wave her off. She wore a pair of grey joggers, and a black hoodie, a cross body bag containing her passport, phone and wallet rested across her chest, a huge suitcase stood next to her with a small backpack resting on top. She still had some makeup on from the day, she was getting an overnight flight to avoid the awful time difference as best as possible. 

After Maddie had checked in her bags and had gone through security she had an hour to roam duty free. Although she’d failed her parents in many sectors she’d always been brought up not to arrive empty handed. So she bought an expensive bottle of Scottish whiskey for her cousin, she wasn’t sure what sort of person he’d turned out to be but at least with booze if he didn’t want it she’d certainly drink it; she bought her sister a pretty pair of silver earrings, and as she picked them up she saw a pair of industrial looking earrings which she thought Jungkook may like, she still knew very little about him but assumed that he would have his ears pierced, most young Korean men did now, well according to Izzy they did. 

Maddie was sitting in a Starbucks, with all of her shopping stuffed into her back pack, when she heard the call for her gate over the airports intercom. She got up and shook of her drowsiness it was now 9:30pm, and her plane was due to depart at 10pm, meaning she would arrive in Seoul at 5pm Korean time, ready to be picked up by Izzy and Jungkook. 

She made her way over to her gate with no real rush, subconsciously she wouldn’t really mind if she missed her plane and therefore had to stay in London a little longer, she wasn’t exactly bouncing off the walls in anticipation. She got in the priority lane, as her parents made sure that the journey would go as smoothly as possible, possibly already knowing maddie would be doing nothing to make this journey easy for herself. 

As she boarded the plane she passed through her usual places in 1st class and business to get to economy, her parents were well off, but as they'd booked the flight a little last minute as the details of her moving were only finalised recently she'd been bumped down to economy. But she still loved to pass all of the glamorous business people, their lives seemed so inviting to her, the constant travel, glamour of different cities, but a sour feeling filled her stomach when she remembered how she'd wasted away her chance to get that life, when she decided she preferred drinking and smoking to studying. 

***

Maddie woke up to the sound of screaming baby, she lifted up her silk eye mask, her eyes stinging from the sudden light flooding in, she'd barely slept, if it could even be classed as sleep. With an irritated sigh she took out her ear phones and checked her phone quickly, she nearly jumped out of her seat when she saw her reflection staring back at her, her makeup had created a panda effect, and the lack of sleep had set in deep under her eyes.

With an irritated with she got her little travel bag out of her backpack, taking out some wipes to get rid of the mascara under her eyes, she quickly put some concealer on and some mascara, brushing her eyebrows through quickly, she took out her french plaits leaving her blond hair in tight curls. 

Maddie had a few bites of her plane breakfast, it wasn't very appetising to her, most foods weren't. Not soon after her uneaten breakfast had been cleared away, the usual drone of the captain announced that they were about to land. Maddie took a deep breath and put her stuff together, trying her hardest to get prepared to start the new life she didn’t want.

***

Maddie put a black cap on to hide her frizzy hair as she finally got out of the queue for Korean customs. She sent her sister a quick text to tell her that she was through, all she had to do was pick up her huge suitcase - which she was dreading to say the least, it weighed tones, so much so that she’d had to pay extra just to get it in the plane. She waited for what seemed like an eternity before her distinctly fat bag made an appearance, whirring around the belt at what should be a reasonable speed but was clearly too fast as she chased it around the belt trying desperately to drag it if of the belt - too proud to give up. 

Suddenly a strong and oddly large hand came into her line of sight, their long fingers wrapping around the handle of her bag as they took hold of her suitcase. "Hey that's my bag!" she complained. 

She started to struggle but immediately stopped when she looked up and saw a man a little older than her pick up the bag for her. It was immediately clear that he was more than just attractive, he had a hypnotic sort of endearing face that drew her in like a moth to a flame. 

She opened her mouth to protest but before she could manage to form any coherent words he’d already picked the bag off of the belt and had put down next to her, all while maintaining eye contact. She could have smacked the cocky smirk that appeared on his lips because she’d given him the satisfaction of being flustered and bashful, two things Maddie was never usually. 

Maddie just rolled her eyes and let out a sigh which only seemed to boost the mans shameless ego further, though reluctantly she bowed politely and muttered “thank you” in the best Korean pronunciation she could, knowing full well he looked like just as much of a foreigner as she did. 

Again the coy smirk returned to his thick lips and he replied in absolutely perfect Korean “no problem” with a cocky shrug. 

Maddie nearly let her jaw hang open only boosting him the further, before she could say anything though he gave her only last grin and turned away heading over to join a slightly shorter but equally attractive man, though they were attractive in different ways, the first man with a sort of proud masculine feel and the second with the sort of ambiguity that was so attractive, he looked like he would paint your nails then break every one of your fingers. 

The two men turned away from Maddie without giving her a second glance, heading towards a group of other men before heading away from the hall of baggage carousels and misplaced and lost luggage. Maddie took a moment to collect herself before heading away from the whirring babble of the hall. Maddie was still thinking about the boy and his oddly hypnotic attraction when she wandered to the the exit of the airport. She was snapped out of her daze by a scream. 

"MADDDIIIIEEEE" Maddie turned to see her big sister running towards her in a blur of limbs and blonde hair, the mysterious boyfriend left to stand alone. 

"Oh my god! IZZY!" The sisters embraced each other tightly rocking from one foot to the other. Maddie took a deep breath the comforting smell of her sisters shampoo filling her nostrils as she pulled her impossibly tighter. No matter how much they’d argued, or the vast space between them, they were always so close, like two opposite ends of a magnet, they couldn’t be more different, yet they can’t help but be drawn to each other. 

As Maddie squeezed her sister tight she caught eyes with Izzy’s new boyfriend and couldn’t help but wonder if they were like that too, two opposite ends of a magnet drawn together. Izzy stood there with her bubbly personality in her outfit consisting of fully dampened tones, like pastels and blushes, and her boyfriend stood behind her in harsh all black attire, his arm a canvas of a full sleeve of tattoos. Not Izzy’s usual safe type, but for some reason that immediately made Maddie like him more. Izzy must have noticed Maddie’s change in attention as she quickly let go of her sister and grabbed her boyfriends hand. 

"Maddie this is Jungkook, Kook this is Mads" Izzy introduced the two. Izzy had introduced her to Jungkook in Korean so she followed her lead.

"Hello" Maddie said in Korean, bowing slightly although her accent was coming through strongly. 

"Hey" Jungkook replied "I've heard so much about you"

"I can't say the same" Maddie replied, teasing Izzy lightly with a nudge. What ever reservations Maddie had about Jungkook immediately melted away when Jungkook just laughed, exposing a bunny like smile, instantly making Maddie feel more comfortable around the ethereally good looking man.

"Let's go to the car" Izzy suggested. Jungkook took Maddie's bag to the car despite her protests, wheeling it through the airports and easily lifting it into the trunk of the insanely nice car they stopped in front of. Maddie was shocked at the car which was some kind of expensive sports car that looked a bit to nice to be owned by someone so young who according to Izzy worked in a small scale but successful company. 

On the car ride to their uncle and aunts, Maddie and Izzy caught up on everything they had retrospectively missed out on. Jungkook would comment occasionally and soon the awkwardness between the two was slowly disappearing. Maddie couldn't help but to stare out of the window at all of the glistening buildings, something felt fresh and new about the new city, as much as she didn't want to admit it, it really did feel like a new start. 

After a good hour or so they pulled up to a towering apartment building and Jungkook got out of the door opening the door for both Izzy and Maddie, while saying "my lady" in an awful British accent which caused both girls to laugh. However, as a sucker for good manners Maddie couldn't help but walm up to the bunny boy more. Maddie picked up her bags where Jungkook had placed them on the pavement. While picking up her backpack she remembered the presents she'd bought, quickly rummaging around in her bag and pulled out the two sets of earrings. 

"Here Iz, I got something for you" she said handing the pretty delicate earrings to Izzy. 

"Wow thank you Mads you really didn't need to" Izzy replied a smile plastered across her face, "now I feel bad, I don't have anything to give back" Maddie just rolled her eyes at her sister and turned to Jungle book. 

"And these are for you, I really appreciate you driving me" Maddie attempted in Korean "ummm I didn't know if you wore earrings but it seems you do" Maddie said noticing the pair of small hoops he had in. 

Jungkook shook his head and replied "you really don't need to, but thank you it was very kind of you." He accepted the gift and looked hesitant before continuing. "Maybe next week, once you've settled in, you could come to our house. Jin hyung loves entertaining and cooking and we'd all love to meet you. Chance to meet some friendly faces in a strange city."

"That would be great thanks" Maddie replied while looking over for her sister for reassurance who just nodded at her with a light smile. 

"That's a great idea Kook" Izzy commented, smiling at them both. "Jin's cooking is the best I've ever tasted! I'll come pick you up."

“Sounds good” Maddie nodded before turning to the building “you coming up?”

Izzy nodded in reply with a smile “why not, I’ve not seen Johnny in a few weeks”

Jungkook was typing furiously in her phone and he quickly turned to Izzy muttering something to her in Korean that Maddie couldn’t quite decipher. Izzys face immediately changed from soft and happy to clearly confused and irritated. “Ok you better go then” Izzy sighed, Maddie finally being able to understand that was being said. 

“I’m sorry” Jungkook sighed “get home safely” he added. 

“I will” Izzy muttered. 

“I mean it” he added more firmly. 

“Ok” Izzy sighed, folding her arms across her chest and watching her boyfriend get back in the car. 

“Good bye, it was nice to meet you” Jungkook mumbled in broken English, Maddie just offered him a hand and weak smile before he got back into the sleek black sports car. 

“What’s that all about” Maddie immediately asked. 

“Just a work thing” Izzy shrugged forcing a smile. 

Maddie just hummed “ok” she shrugged as the obnoxious engine of Jungkook’s car roared to life behind them, he lifted one hand off the wheel sending Izzy a little wave and a smile before driving off at a speed most likely over the limit. 

“I suppose we should go up”


	9. Chapter 9

Maddie looked up at the towering building in front of them and noted to herself that her young cousin definitely lived in a nice place. Izzy pressed the according buzzer to connect with the intercom in his apartment clearly having done this many times before, she was greeted with a crackling noice before she heard the same voice of her cousin just about 3 octaves deeper than the last time she'd heard it in real life. 

"Hello?" It questioned in Korean to which Maddie replied in English. 

"Hey Johnny, it’s Iz, I brought Mads over” Izzy explained. 

"Oh Hey please come up do you need help with her bags?" Johnny's crackling voice replied in his American-English

"Oh yeah that'd be great thank you!" Izzy quickly agreed, with out Jungkook it was clear neither of the exhausted girls had a hope in lugging the huge suitcase up to Johnny's apartment. 

“I’ll be right down” Johnny replied before the line went quiet once again. Izzy and Maddie shared a look and soon after they were greeted by Johnnys smiling face, he'd changed and grown up a lot since Maddie had last seen him. 

"Hey!" They both said at the same time, Johnny pulled Maddie into a warm hug before greeting Izzy, they'd seen each other a lot more recently than Maddie and Johnny had, it must have been at least 5 years since they'd last met. 

Johnny was, as her mother had promised, very fashionable, his taste was not too dissimilar to her own. He'd grown up to be very handsome and not to mention tall, Maddie was always convinced she got her height from her European side not from their shared grandfather but by the looks of Johnny she may have to rethink things. 

"You look good!" Johnny stated after completing a similar examination of Maddie. 

"I was just going to say the same thing about you!" Maddie laughed "I'm definitely not the same 13 year old you knew"

"Definitely not you've grown into a fine young woman" Johnny complimented, taking the suitcase out of Maddie's hand.

Izzy snorted at his comment, "you do know why she was sent out here right? She's far from 'fine'. Therefore Jonathan I except you to take care of my precious little bean or you will face the consequences."

"Way to lighten the mood Iz" Maddie replied, rolling her eyes before sending Izzy a well deserved death glare. 

"Sure thing shortcake" Johnny replied with a teasing smile picking on Izzy's height. Izzy was a proud 5 foot 5 inches which was way above average for Korea but Johnnys insane height could make anyone feel small.

"Just because I'm small doesnt mean I can't kick your ass" Izzy muttered raising an eyebrow. 

"Also shouldn't you be respecting your oppa?" Johnny teased, lording over the four years he had on her.

"Sorry oppa" Izzy said in a sickly sweet voice, "but it's hard to take you seriously when you look like a character from a dr Seuss book."

Maddie who had been previously watching the exchange between her family now burst out laughing as she and her sister high fived.

"Wow so mature" Johnny pouted. "I'm on the third floor and the elevators currently out of order so I hope you don't mind the stairs." 

"It'll be fine" Maddie replied politely trying not to let her frustration show as her exhausted legs wobbled under her.

"Why isn't she just staying with you Iz though?" Johnny asked over Maddie, as the three of them started to work together to haul the massive suitcase up the three flight of stairs in front of them.

"Yeah sure Maddie can come stay in my crappy apartment which has barely enough room for me and my roommate let alone another human. Especially one with this much clothes" Izzy replied sassily. They kept fighting with the suitcase but thanks to Johnny's strength they were up the stairs relatively quickly. Throughout the procedure Izzy's phone kept pinging with her annoying duck text tone causing the three of them to laugh.

As they wheeled the suitcase to Johnny's apartment, Maddie couldn't help feel slightly excited about seeing her new home in Korea. If she was going to have to say here she wanted it to at least be survivable. Johnny kicked open the door behind him and the three of them made their way into the hallway. 

Maddie followed suit in slipping off her shoes at the door. Johnny told Maddie to follow him down the hall as he wheeled her suitcase to her new room, their apartment was really nice, definitely on the expensive side, her room was a decent size big enough for the double bed which dominated the floor space, a huge wardrobe sat in the corner of the room, a desk sat under a huge window with a mirror sat on top.

"We couldn't get a dressing table, so the boys and I improvised" Johnny said gesturing to the desk, Maddie was truly overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness, she'd had plenty of bad experiences with horrible people that she'd lost faith in society as a whole, but, slowly but surely her faith in humanity was being restored but the occasional kindness of those around her. 

"It's perfect, thank you" Maddie smiled with real gratitude lacing her words "really I mean it, for all of this" she added, Johnny just shrugged like it was no big deal, but it was, to Maddie at least. 

"We has a spare room and Mum and Dad mentioned that you were moving here, I don't want you stuck with my parents” Johnny shrugged “they get a bit much after a while, I moved out as soon as I could" he added, they both laughed at that knowing his parents all too well. 

After they’d dumped Maddie’s bag the two made their way out into the apartment she noticed the various pieces of modern art which lined them, unsurprisingly her cousin seemed to have an equally good taste in artwork much like his fashion sense. The pieces were all beautiful in their own odd way and some even looked like originals. 

Johnny led her through the hall to where Izzy was raiding the fridge in a nice modern kitchen which doubled up as quite an open plan space consisting of a table and a set of chairs. “You have too much beer and too few vegetables” Izzy scolded as she pulled out three beers. 

“Sorry mum” Johnny teased rolling his eyes. 

“Where Mark? When he’s here you normally at least have something edible” Izzy commented. 

“He’s should be home any minute, he’s been out of town for a while, on a business trip” Johnny explained. 

“Ahh so that’s why he kept cancelling our days out” Izzy mused as she made her way around the kitchen already knowing where everything would be, she grabbed a bottle opener and opened the bottles, handing on to each of her family members, though Maddie didn’t miss the slight hesitation as she handed the bottle to her. 

Maddie just took the bottle unsure where she fitted into this conversation, taking her comfort as usual from the bottle. “Go easy Mads” Izzy teased returning her attention to her little sister who had downed half the bottle in the few seconds she’d had it. 

Maddie blushed and quickly stopped drinking sliding her thumb over her damp bottom lip. “Sorry” she mumbled. 

“No don’t apologise” Izzy quickly sighed. 

“Yeah when I first tasted Korean beer, I- well let’s just say I couldn’t walk home” Johnny added trying to ease her embarrassment with an easy smile. 

“Anyway, who’s Mark?” Maddie quickly asked changing the subject. 

“Marks my roommate, and we’ll I dispose your roommate now too” Johnny explained. 

“Mark is so sweet, you’ll love him” Izzy gushed “he’s this cute Canadian boy and he’s so nice” 

“So he speaks English?” Maddie asked. 

“Yeah” Izzy replied, she laughed slightly as Maddie sighed in relief “but Johnny and Mark will both have you fluent in no time”

Maddie just shrugged “I don’t need another language, German and English is enough for me” 

“Well it might come in handy considering your living here now” Johnny teased. 

“Yeah but not for long” Maddie shrugged in reply. 

“That’s not a good attitude Mads” Izzy scolded but it came out more like a sigh. 

“But it’s true isn’t it? All I have to do is pass some exams and I can get out of here” Maddie mumbled. 

“I suppose” Izzy sighed “but have an open mind, you never know you might enjoy yourself” 

Before anyone could say anything else the sound of the front door opening interrupted then followed by the sound of multiple male voices as someone, supposedly Mark entered the apartment. “Oh no he hasn’t” Johnny muttered under his breath. 

“What’s going on John?” Izzy asked cautiously as the male voices only got lousier as they laughed amount themselves. 

Johnny didn’t answer and instead just made his way out into the hall again, Maddie and Izzy just shared a confused look before turning their attention to Johnny “at least take your shoes off you animals” he snapped at the men silencing them.

Johnny disappeared from view for a few seconds before returning to the kitchen gripping onto a shorter mans arm, as they turned the corner the mans eyes went wide “oh dude that was today?” The man Maddie immediately assumed was Mark asked. 

“Yes Mark that was today” Johnny snapped “the one day I need you to say no to them”

“But they asked to come round before they went home and I felt bad so I said yes, I forgot I’m so sorry” Mark mumbled. 

Johnny just signed “it’s ok, it’s Maknae fever”

“Hey Markie” Izzy smiled as Mark opened his arms pulling Izzy into a friendly hug. 

“Hey Iz” Mark replied, Maddie immediately could see that they were close because ‘Iz’ was something very few people called Izzy, she always introduced herself as Izzy or Isabelle to strangers. 

“This is my little sister Maddie” Izzy introduced turning to Maddie. 

“Hey Maddie, I’m Mark” Mark smiled, Maddie couldn’t help but find the way he said his name sort of sweet, replacing the ‘a’ with an ‘o’ sound. 

“It’s nice to meet you” Maddie replied a light smile on her lips. 

“I better get going” Izzy muttered checking her phone, she must have only just seen the notifications from all the alerts form earlier. 

“But I just got here” Mark pouted. 

“I know but maybe if you don’t cancel our meet ups all the time then we’d see more of each other” Izzy teased. 

Mark sighed “I know, it’s all this work shit”

“Yeah it’s ok I get it” Izzy smiled “see you Johnny, and Maddie stay safe, these boys will look after you, I’m going to pick you up tomorrow at about 11 for lunch” Izzy instructed letting Maddie know this was an order not a request. 

“Ok I’ll see you tomorrow” Maddie yawned letting her sister pull her into a hug. 

“Johnny finish my beer for me yeah?” Izzy smiled as she headed to the door where a bundle of men that Izzy had seemingly never met before crowded. 

“Will do, just close the door on your way out” Johnny called after Izzy as she rushed out of the apartment. 

“That was weird” Mark commented. 

“No Mark, what’s weird is that there are 6 unexpected men in the apartment on the one day I asked you to be well behaved” Johnny scoffed but in a teasing sort of way. 

Maddie just placed her hand on Johnny’s arm “it’s ok John, I’ll stay out of your way” she explained, she looked back to the door to see the men but they’d clearly moved in further into the apartment she hadn’t even had the opportunity to explore yet. 

“No Mads it’s your first night in Seoul” Johnny sighed opening the fridge and piling up Marks arms with beer bottles. 

“It’s ok, I’m pretty jet lagged and have some unpacking to do” Maddie began before she trailed off. 

“Well at lest come through and say ‘Hi’” Johnny suggested sending his youngest cousin a sympathetic smile. 

“Ok” Maddie nodded and with that she followed Mark and Johnny out of the kitchen and across the hall to another room which appeared to be a living room, hysterical laughter ebbing out of the room. 

“Hey boys” Mark caught their attention “this is Johnny’s cousin Maddie” he introduced. 

Maddie just sent them a weak smile, her eyes glancing over all of them before she froze as she was met with a familiar face, she cocked her head with confusion and narrowed her eyes at him. She quickly turned to Johnny “did you say they had just flown in too?” She asked quietly. 

“Hmm, yeah why?” Johnny asked. 

“Nothing I jut think I must have recognised their faces from there” she explained.

“Please don’t tell me that one of these fuckers tried anything with you” Johnny asked very seriously. 

“No” Maddie quickly corrected “he just helped me with my bad that’s all” Maddie explained gesturing to one of them. 

Johnny looked over and his eyebrows raised “that’s uncharacteristic” he muttered. 

“Well, this is Baekhyun, Kai, Taemin, Taeyong, Ten, and then Lucas” Johnny explained pointing to each of them in turn, Lucas being the man she immediately recognised, the same cocky smile on his lips from earlier, he sent her a cheeky wink causing Maddie to roll her eyes at him for the second time in the short time she’d known him. 

“Hello” Maddie smiled hoping her tiered brain hadn’t fucked up the simplest Korean phrase bowing politely to them. 

“Hello” they all replied in sync. 

She checked her phone as Mark handed out the beers and the previous chatter returned to the room. It was only 8 pm but Maddie felt as though it was already early morning, her sleep deprivation causing her mind to spin. She itched for a cigarette to ease the low grumble in her stomach, she downed the remainder of her beer which hadn’t lasted as long as it maybe should have. 

Maddie placed down her bottle and headed out of the room, the boys already back into a comfortable chatter in Korean she was to tiered to translate. She wanted to explore the rest of the apartment a little more so headed down the hall, she stumbled across a bedroom which she immediately assumed belonged to Mark. She then found a surprisingly high class bathroom, with plenty of space for her cosmetics. 

As Maddie continued down the corridor she went to open another door which to her could be nothing but an airing cupboard as it stood next to the bathroom and radiated a familiar dry heat, but before she could put that thought to bed she was interrupted by Johnny's commanding voice "don't go in there" he demanded but it came out more of a plead. 

Maddie scrunched her eyebrows at his odd request but let go of the handle "why?" She pressed "hiding a body in the closest?" She teased.

"Something like that" Johnny replied scratching the back of his neck "just trust me, you don't want to go in there, it's a mess" he added "I panicked and shoved all my shit in there just before you arrived, so uhh just give me some time to sort it out yeah?"

"Sure" Maddie laughed. 

“You know you can come and talk with the boys” Johnny smiled “we need to catch up, it’s been years”

“We do need to catch up” Maddie nodded “but that might be a conversation for another day” she yawned. 

“Of course you must be tiered” Johnny smiled. 

“Yeah” Maddie nodded. 

“Well of you need anything come and get me yeah?” Johnny suggested. 

“I will” Maddie smiled before both of them headed back down the hall. Johnny entered the living room once again and Maddie headed to the kitchen. 

She opened the fridge and picked out another beer before deciding to head to her room. But before she could she saw the cocky man she now knew was Lucas standing at the door and bunch of empty beer bottles in his hands. “Hey” he smiled with a honey sort of tone. 

“Hi” Maddie replied with a polite smile. 

“I’m Lucas” he introduced. 

“Yeah I know” Maddie mumbled. 

This was however clearly not the reaction he usually got from girls as he just looked at her with an inquisitive gaze likes he was a puzzle or something. “Well Maddie, I’d like to be your friend” he announced. 

Maddie had been nothing but bitchy to him so this request wasn’t expected at all, of course though Maddie was aware that it could have been a translation error in her foggy mind, but she liked how odd it was and so she nodded “ok then”

“Ok” he nodded as Maddie walked past him and headed to her room not giving him a second glance. Her suitcase still dominated the floor but she knew she was too tiered to bother to unpack it tonight. She instead rummaged around her hand luggage and pulled out a packet of cigarettes before carefully sitting on the desk, sliding open the window as far as she could, though admittedly it wasn’t very far as they were very high up. 

She pulled out one of the sticks and placed it between her lips before flipping an ‘I ❤️ London’ lighter and igniting the end. She sucked in the familiar taste of the nicotine, holding the smoke in her lungs for a second before breathing it out into the warm night air.


	10. Chapter 10

Izzy left Johnny's apartment with a sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach as she reread the texts she just got from the boys for the 5th time.

From: Mochi Boy (지민)  
Jungkook is dying!!! Come say your final words!

From: God of Destruction (남준)  
If Jimin sent you anything, ignore it. He's being very dramatic.

From: Jinnie-oppa (석진)  
Jungkook is being a little brat and will not let hobi look at his injury until you're there for some stupid reason. Apparently he needs a hand to hold while we literally look at his stomach!

From: TaeTae (태형)  
Hobi-Hyung just gave kook a painkiller and it might of been a slight overdose. He's a bit high right now but it is hilarious. Get here so you can film blackmail material 

From: Lil' meow meow (윤기)  
JK got in a fight. He'll be fine - Don't panic. Get to ours ASAP. Be safe.

With mixed feelings and thoughts swirling around her brain, Izzy hailed a cab that would take her to the part of town where the boys all lived together. Sighing, she now knew she was gonna be back at her place on the other side of the city very late tonight. The whole journey there Izzy coyldnt help but wonder how Jungkook had managed to insure himself this time. He would always blame it on the boxing, but Izzy had seen him spar with the other members and it was rare her boyfriend would take a hit. 

After what seemed like an eternity she finally reached the luxury suite on Hannam the Hill, all the buildings there looking perfect, stylish and extremely expensive. As Izzy approached the security check, she got out the cab and paid the driver before walking towards the familiar bodyguard.

She greeted him as he did his routine check of her bag and patted her down being respectful of her body. He thanked her and phoned ahead to tell the boys that she was here. Despite being with Jungkook for just over a year, Izzy had never really got used to the intense process she had to go through just to see him at his apartment. Sure she understood that lots of important people lived here but when she was tired and worried as she was now it would be really nice to not have to go through such through checks.

Reaching the elevator, she typed in the security code before going up to the right floor. By this point, the worry of what might have happened to Jungkook was getting to her as she speed walked along the corridor to their apartment. Knocking hastily on the door, she was confronted with a very tired looking Namjoon who let out a massive sigh when he saw her.

"Thank god you're here. Hobi was wrong. Getting that boy high only made him more of a whiny brat."

"Jesus Christ" Izzy laughed as she dumped her bag by the door and took off her shoes. "I leave you guys for one day."

"I don't know how we ever managed without you" Namjoon replied, readjusting his glasses on his face before leaning in and giving her a tight hug.

Namjoon had grown to be one of Izzy's closest friends and they had spent lots of time together last summer and since she moved to Korea for university. He had proven to be a great person to talk to along with always helping her with any translations or words she didn't understand.

Izzy smiled as Namjoon guided her towards the living room where the rest of the boys were. It was absolute chaos as could be expected. Half of the, were not helping with Taehyung filming the whole 5ing in his phone, Jimin laughing one of the armchairs and Yoongi resting his head in his hands. Hoseok and Jin were trying to hold a loud Jungkook down to attend to an injury on his arm. Her boyfriend was yelling some random words in a dialect so strong she had no idea what he was saying.

Izzy was taken aback at how bruised Jungkook looked, with dried blood covering his knuckles and a purple bruise blooming on his cheekbone.Not sure whether to laugh at the absurdity of the situation or start stressing out at the state of her boyfriend, she hesitantly approached him.

"I don't think this was a boxing injury" Izzy spoke, her eyebrows raised as she looked down at her boyfriend.

"There was boxing involved" Jungkook grinned back, his eyes unfocused. 

"Hmm, I'm gonna take a guess that it wasn't in a ring" Izzy answered, before sitting down next to him and placing a gentle kiss on his good cheek. 

"I hope we didn't drag you away from anything important" Jin commented, standing up from his crouched position in front of Jungkook.

"I was just dropping my sister at my cousins house" Izzy answered. "But Johnny will get her settled in well enough, plus his roommate is super nice as well."

"Not as nice as me" Jungkook slurred, leaning his head on Izzy's shoulder and poking her cheek. "Or as handsome"

"Mark is lovely and has been very nice to me whenever I have met him" Izzy answered with an eyeroll as Jungkook kept poking her cheek and calling it pretty. "How much painkiller did you guys give him?" Izzy asked, unused to her boyfriend being excessively cute.

"Not that much" Jimin answered from his seat opposite the chaos. "He must of not eaten much today which is why it's affecting him so much."

"It'll wear off in about 15 minutes" Yoongi added, although there was a small smile on his face as he looked at their maknae.

"I bet Johnny's roommate isn't as strong as me" Jungkook added, appearing to have missed their conversation. "I fought four guys at once and I still came out on top."

"FOUR!" Namjoon cried out. "Jesus Christ Jungkook how many times have we told you not to enter fight when you're out numbered like that."

"I think the general rule should be not to enter any fights" Jin corrected, lightly smacking Namjoon on the arm.

"Nah, fightings healthy" Yoongi contradicted. "Especially for a wild soul like him."

"Well I'd rather he take it out on something that doesn't fight back" Jin cut in. "Such as the punching bag we bought him for his birthday. 

"But hyung where's the fun in that?" Jungkook asked, smiling up at Jin. "Also can we have Tteok Mandu Guk? Considering how much pain and suffering I have gone through."

"I can't deal with this child" Jin declared, but still standing up and beginning to pace towards the kitchen. "Come on Yoongi-ah, let's make dinner to feed the beast."

"You staying for dinner?" Taehyung asked, having turned his phone off the majority of the youngest antics over.

"I don't know oppa" Izzy began, "I've got a lot of reading to get done for this big assignment and-"

"Come on Izzy-ah, please" Jimin whined, grabbing a hold of her arm and pouting his thick lips at her. 

"Hey no touching" Jungkook snapped, pushing Jimin's arm off Izzy and holding her close to him. Izzy couldn't help her heart fluttering as Jungkook basically sat her on his lap, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Uh, fine - I can't say no to Jin's cooking anyways" Izzy gave in, a small smile on her face.

"Great, we can play that board game you bought us after dinner" Taehyung said with a grin on his face.

"You mean Monopoly? Last time we played that it almost ended in murder" Izzy commented, thinking back to fond memories of Jin and Yoongi screaming at each other while Namjoon built a stretch of hotels silently. It had not ended well.

"Don't worry, this time we know the rules so it'll be much better" Jimin smiled before he and Taehyung went to leave the room.

"Why do I somehow doubt that?" Hoseok laughed from where he was packing the first aid kit away. "Well, I'm glad your staying - it always gives us a good reason for a night off and we've been needing it recently."

"Oh really, trouble at the office?"

"Just some unsavoury faces showing up after a long time, some names circulating in the wrong places but nothing we can't deal with" Namjoon answered. "Speaking of which, Hobi we need to go over that data."

Hoseok nodded and they too left the room, leaving her a Jungkook alone together. His arms were still tightly wrapped around her waist, his head nestled into her neck.

"Babe you need to let me get up so that I can call my roommate - tell her I'll be home late" Izzy said, trying to pry his fingers open.

"No way, I'm not letting you go" Jungkook answered only holding onto her tighter.

"Come on Kookie, let me-"

Izzy was silenced by Jungkook starting to place a trail of kisses down her tender neck, sucking slightly on each one. Izzy breathed deeply trying to keep her wits about her as his tattooed hand began gently massaging her breast.

"Your roommate can wait" Jungkook whispered into her ear, before quickly flipping Izzy so that she was facing him in one swift movement. "My lips can't."

And with that Jungkook was kissing her. Izzy closed her eyes as her mouth moved with his - both in perfect harmony as he deepened the kiss, small moans coming out of his mouth. Izzy was happy to respond, always loving the physical touch of the man she loved, and the way he touched her made her feel like the most precious thing on earth.

Jungkook smiled against her lips as they pulled away, foreheads resting against each other.

"I love you" Jungkook whispered under his breath. "I'll always protect you."

Izzy wasn't quite sure what he meant but decided not to question it - putting the strange declaration down to drugs still in his system. Placing another quick kiss on his lips, she stood up from his lap reaching for her phone in her back pocket.

"Hey where are you going?" Jungkook whined.

"I'm going to call Solar" Izzy answered a small smile on her face. "Don't worry I'm coming back."

"To be continued" Jungkook smirked, which caused Izzy to blush and quickly leave the room.

***

Jungkook walked into the kitchen where his hyungs had all gathered, waiting for the maknae to come through from whatever he was doing. They had managed to put a good act on in front of Izzy, one of the many personas they all worked so hard to maintain.

"So they really were threatening Izzy?" Yoongi asked as Jungkook took a seat on one of the stools.

"Not exactly. They were looking for a foreign girl with the surname Song. Started saying some rude things, but some over information that hit a bit to close to home" Jungkook replied, exasperated and tired at the events of the past day.

"It would have been better to throw the, off her scent instead of beating them up pabo" Hoseok cut in.

"I know but I panicked and I was already worked up" Jungkook answered.

"I don't understand why people would be looking for someone like Izzy though. She's never even glimpsed into anything to do with the underworld. Her record is squeaky clean" Jin pondered, from where we was stirring some noodles.

"We don't know that they are looking for Izzy" Taehyung countered, "just someone matching her description."

"Coincidences don't exist in this world" Yoongi deadpanned. 

"Seventeen's V unit where tailing her all of today and they didn't notice anything massively out of the ordinary. We'll have them keep on tailing her and her sister, from a distance so she won't notice and they'll report if anything suspicious is going on" Namjoon decided, nodding towards Jimin who was already getting his phone out to make the necessary calls.

"Well, she's wearing the necklace with our symbol on it" Hoseok began. "Surely anyone who 'knows anything about the underground would see that and back off."

"Some would see it as an easy challenge, a way to prove dominance or some shit like that" Yoongi commented, thinking back to how they all used to behave in a similar way early into their career. "Lord only knows we did it enough."

The rest all nodded their heads in agreement, allowing the room to fall into silence before Tae said "should we just tell her? Get it over with? It would make a lot of things a hell lot easier."

"No" jungkook ground out. "She my girlfriend and I will decide how much she knows. For now she's stressed enough about this degree and she doesn't need all our problems on top of that. She's not ready."

"Your funeral" Jin commented as chopped up some vegetables. "Cause that girl is smarter than you all give her credit for and she will figure it out."

The room fell into an awkward silence as the eldest left, as all the remaining boys looked towards Jungkook who was poking the inside of his cheek with his tongue in frustration.

"Not yet okay?" He pleaded with Namjoon. "There's just too much to tell her, too many skeletons in my closet. Just give me a little more time, Hyung, please."

"Okay kook, but don't put that conversation off for too long."

***

After dinner was over and they had another violent game of monopoly full of backstabbing and dodgy deals that defiantly didn't follow the rules, she and Jungkook were left alone in his bedroom. She flopped down onto his stupidly comfortable bed, the exhaustion and stress of her sister moving and Jungkook's fight causing her to close her eyes and take some deep breaths. 

A dip in the mattress signified jungkook's presence as he wrapped his arm around her back. He pulled her close to him and she all too happy to cuddle in, enjoying his smell and the feel of his body underneath her fingertips."

"You know it would be a lot easier if you just moved in" Jungkook commented, as if he hadn't dropped a massive bombshell. He was ready to take the next step.

"Really?" Izzy asked, looking into her boyfriends dark eyes. "You want me and my messy habits and awful sleep schedule to move in."

"Trust me darling it wouldn't be out of place."

"What about the other boys? You guys have existed as seven for as long as I have known you - won't it mess up your dynamic?"

"They all love you - or at least they did until Jin kept landing on your ridiculously expensive hotels but they'd want you here. Plus it's way safer than your current neighbourhood- do you know how much crime takes place there?"

"I don't know kook. You're a big enough distraction to my studies when you're not even with me" she smiled while booping his nose. "I'll think about it, I promise."

"Okay, take your time - but I'm ready to take this next step with you."

Jungkook reached over to turn out the light pulling Izzy closer under the covers as the two of them fell asleep their bodies moulded perfectly into one.


	11. Chapter 11

Gentle morning light cascaded through the cracks in the blind, so as Maddie rolled over in her sleep her face was illuminated in a warm hue. As Maddie woke up she noticed that the apartment was silent, she sat up in bed stretching and yawning before groggily pulling herself out of bed. She quickly checked her phone, it was 9am meaning she’d been asleep for about 11 hours, it also meant that Izzy would be here to pick her up in a couple of hours too. She wondered out of her room, her bare feet padding along the lament floors, she made her way to the kitchen rummaging through the cupboards to find nothing notable apart from a worryingly large amount of frying pans. 

She grabbed a glass and switched on the water faucet waiting for it to get cool before she ran the glass under it filling it close to the brim before shifting gut off again and brining the glass to her lips. She made her way to the living room just wondering around. She’d been knocked out pretty much as soon as she’d gone to bed last night, but those men who Mark had been away with were still there when she’d gone to bed, she had no idea when they’d left but in their stead they’d left a small hurricane of mess. Empty discarded bottled and snack packets were left tossed haphazardly around the room and she wondered how tiered she must have e been to have missed all this commotion. 

Taking occasional sips from the glass she made her way across the room the the huge window on the other side. She paused in front of the glass and looked around at the view of the city, the shining sea of glass sparkling in the mid morning sun, it was so similar yet so different from the view out of her London apartment. And it hit a little close to home, that all these thousands of miles away she was still staring out of a window but just onto a completely different city. Maddie didn’t know how she should feel about this new city, whether she could feel blessed to have this opportunity, or bitter that she’d been forced out of her comfortable slump. 

Maddie absentmindedly took a seat on the plush couch, basking in the warm morning sun, the rays streaming through the glass and brushing her skin allowing the warmth to slow through her. As the sun continued to rise Maddie soon found herself once again sitting in the shade, the sun no longer streaming directly into the room. Maddie headed out of the living room, picking up some of the empty bottles as she did so heading back into the kitchen, she placed her glass in the sink and tossed the wrappers in the bin creating a pile of empty on the counter. With a yawn Maddie stretched her arms up a over her head and rolled her neck to release the tension. 

“Morning” a sleepy voice sounded from behind her. 

Maddie spun around to see Johnny standing at the door with a tiered smile. “Morning” Maddie replied. 

“Can I get toy something?” Johnny offered “tea? Izzy always needed tea” upheavals explained. 

Maddie just shook her head in reply “can I have a coffee instead please?” She asked. 

“I think we’re going to get on just fine” Johnny a,lied heading over to an expensive looking coffee machine “I always though that was a British thing” he mused. 

“What? Tea?” Maddie laughed lightly. 

“Yeah, the constant need for it” he replied with a chuckle. 

“It is” Maddie nodded “but Izzy was a bit of an extreme case” she joked. 

“That’s reassuring, because I once watched her got through 7 cups of teas in one night” he muttered. 

“Oh please, that’s nothing” Maddie laughed “you should see her when she has a deadline due”

“I dread to think” he shuddered. 

“Is Mark still in bed?” Maddie asked. 

“Yeah, travelling always takes it out of him a bit and he’s been working hard lately” a Johnny explained “thanks for doing all this by the way, you didn’t have to” he added gesturing to the small collection of beer bottles on the side. 

Maddie just shrugged “it’s ok” she smiled “don’t get used to it though” she teased, it was easier than she expected to rediscover the comfortable atmosphere she had around Johnny, she wasn’t sure why she’d assumed it would be impossible to find the sort of easy back and forth they had as kids, but as she sat at the counter sipping a coffee she couldn’t help but feel at ease. 

Once they’d caught up a little, still a lot to be said Maddie used the bath room to wash up, taking a shower and brushing her teeth and hair, using all of the skin care her post-long haul flight face needed. Once she’d finished she crossed the hall to her bedroom and got dressed, she pulled out her makeup bag from the suitcase and applied a little onto her face, concealing the effects of general sleep deprivation and poor diet. Once she was satisfied with the summer look shed creaked she got uo from the makeshift dressing table before packing a small black leather bag with her phone, a lipgloss and all the essentials she could pick out from the suitcase that sat open but unpacked in her floor. 

Once she’d finished she headed back out into the apartment, she could now hear Johnny and mark talking among themselves. she headed towards their voices in the kitchen. "morning Maddie" Mark smiled brightly although he was clearly still very tiered. 

"morning Mark" Maddie replied, his sleepy demeanour making her yawn causing the other members of the household to also yawn. 

"sleep well?" he asked with a smile. 

"like a baby" Maddie laughed awkwardly. 

"did we keep you awake?" he asked cautiously. 

Maddie just shook her head in reply "no I must have been pretty jet lagged" 

"I'm glad, Ten and Baekhyun went a bit bonkers" he commented.

"Ten? is that his actual name?" Maddie asked. 

"No but his real name is way harder to deal with" Johnny muttered "here take these before I forget" he quickly added handing her a pair of keys. 

"thanks" Maddie smiled taking them from his hand before chucking them into the bag next to a pack of cigarettes and her 'I ❤️ London' lighter. 

“Iz said she’d pick you up at 11 right?” Johnny asked. 

Maddie hummed in reply “yeah” she added as she checked her phone. 

“Well we probably have to go to work later and I’m not sure if we’ll be back, so just let yourself in yeah?” Johnny suggested. 

“Mmm ok” Maddie nodded “what sort of jobs do you have so you work those hours though?” She asked. 

“Nothing interesting” Johnny muttered. 

Maddie could tell he didn’t want to say so she didn’t ask, she had secrets so Johnny could too. There were some questions she wouldn’t answer so it only seemed fair he could dodge questions too. 

Maddie checked her phone as it buzzed in her hand, Izzy had texted that she was on her way to pick Maddie up as she had no classes today “she’s on her way” Maddie announced. 

Johnny just nodded with a yawn “take it easy today”

“I will” she nodded. 

“You may not feel tiered now but the jet lag with hit you later” Mark added clearly speaking from experience. 

“I’ll keep that in mind” Maddie smiled weakly. 

“Be safe, and stay with your sister don’t wonder off” Johnny quickly demanded. 

“Johnny I’m not five anymore” she sighed with an eye roll. 

“True, but you’re still my youngest cousin in a new city” Johnny added before she sighed “I should have talked to Taeyong and gotten the day off” he muttered. 

“Yeah but we need you today” Mark sighed “they’ll be fine don’t be so protective” be added, sending Maddie a sympathetic smile with she returned as thanks. 

“Tomorrow Maddie we’re going to go out together, with Izzy and Mark can come too, we’ll get Korean barbecue and buy your uniform and stuff” Johnny announced. 

Mark looked up at Johnny like a lost puppy who’s just been given a home, Maddie couldn’t surprise the smile that crept onto her lips “alright sounds good John” she nodded. 

Johnny and Mark both rushed off pretty quickly to get washed up and dressed muttering things about wanting to looked presentable for when Izzy showed up and to prove they could be suitable roommates and good influences for her. When the sound of the buzzer sounded followed by Izzys voice calling into the apartment Maddie made her way to the door trying to find how she could let her in. 

Mark quickly came up behind her and pressed a button supposedly letting her up “thanks” Maddie muttered. Mark just smiled in reply pulling down the T-shirt he was still in the process of putting on. Maddie opened the door in anticipation and soon she saw her sister walking down the corridor “someone needs to fix that elevator” Izzy muttered as she lugged herself up the stairs. 

Maddie just laughed in reply letting her sister pull her into a loose hug as she arrived at the door. “Hey Iz” Mark smiled. 

“Hi boys” Izzy smiled back. 

“I was just saying to Mads that us four should go out tomorrow when we’re free and get Maddie her new uniform and stuff” Johnny explained. 

Izzy nodded “yeah ok sounds good”

“We couple get Korean barbecue” Mark added. 

“As long as you two are paying” Izzy laughed slightly making the men laugh alongside her but of course agreeing. 

“Well we should go” Maddie cut through their laughter, it felt all wrong, it felt like she didn’t quite fit in, it had always been Maddie and Izzy, with either Johnny or Alice but it looked like in her absence they had found other people to make up the three they were so used to. 

Izzy stopped laughing quite quickly nodding and swallowing “yeah ok let’s go” she smiled sweetly. Maddie didn’t miss the look she shared with the boys though before they left. 

“So I though we could take the metro today” Izzy announced. 

“Ok I suppose” Maddie shrugged. 

“Trust me Mads, I found this stuff boarder line when I first came here, it’ll help” Izzy insisted. 

Maddi just nodded in reply as they made their way down the street, as they made their way to the station Izzy pointed out a convenience store she liked while she lived here and pointed out little markers that she could use to find her way to the station by herself. Maddie didn’t want to admit it but having Izzy explain to her the ways to read the train maps and helping her decipher the Hangul as an actual godsend. 

Izzy announced that they would be getting lunch together with Izzys boyfriend of his ‘lunch break’ before spending the after noon together. As if Maddie hadn’t felt like an extra unnecessary wheel multiple times in the mere hours she’d been in the county she was now sitting at a table for four facing absolutely no one. 

She slowly stirred her ramen around the bowl taking occasion sips when her sister would look in her direction. The worst part was that Izzy had now abandoned Maddie at the table with a man she knew nothing about as she used the bathroom. The two sat in an awkward silence, the only sounds being the other customers and the sound of Jungkook hastily shovelling the food into his mouth like it was going to run away. She’d truly never seen an appetite like his. 

“So” he began in heavy accented English “why did you come to Korea?” He asked. 

Maddie snapped her eyes up from where she was staring intently at one specific noodle making contact with his soft eyes. “My parents sent me here” she explained “to pass some exams” she added, being sure to speak slowly. 

“You were naughty?” He asked innocently, though Maddie was sure Izzy would have filled him in on all the juicy details of her downfall. 

“Yeah” Maddie couldn’t help but laugh “you could say that”

“Party party, yeah?” He added with a bunny type grin, seeing himself the hilarity of what he was saying. 

“Yes partying” she laughed. 

“Don’t worry, it will be better” he smiled, she could see him work through his mind to form the words. 

“Maybe” Maddie nodded hesitantly. 

“No it will” he insisted “before, I was not a good boy, but now, with Izzy, I am better” he managed to stumble. 

Maddie just nodded in reply, he sent her another smile before turning back to his unfinished dish. Maddie sort of liked him better now, it was nice to know that he wasn’t a carbon copy of perfection like her sister and maybe had a few flaws too. Izzy soon returned and resumed a conversation asking Maddie about their parents and Alice, asking about London all the while dancing around the topic which was Maddie herself. 

Once Jungkook had left the two once again and they’d done some shopping Izzy suggested that they go and get bubble tea, something the girls loved to do together even when they lived in London together as teens. Izzy ordered for both of the girls and bought the drinks over to Maddie where she sat at a window seat. 

"what'd you pick for me?" Maddie asked as Izzy returned to their table with two drinks in her hands. She had insisted on her sister picking out a drink for her, as she was infamously indecisive, so Izzy hadn't hesitated to save an eternity of time by choosing for her. 

"I got you a chai tea with chocolate bubbles, is that good?" Izzy questioned worry in her eyes, it'd been so long since they'd spent time together she wasn't sure if she'd got it all wrong. 

"Oooo that sounds lush" her British slang sending a warm felling to Izzy, home. 

Izzy sat down setting the drinks on the table her fingers numb from how cold they were, the cool condensation off the cups running down her fingers. The girls sat in the comfortable sound of the babbling city, sipping their drinks, Maddie commented on how good the drink Izzy chose for her was a couple of times, earning distant grunts form her sister, she was clearly deep in thought about something, something or someone was clearly troubling her. 

"What's wrong Iz?"

"Oh it nothing, don't worry about it" Izzy muttered stirring her bubble tea.

"I can tell when you're lying you know" Maddie commented. 

"Ugh fine... well it's just the boys. They're disappearing at random times, keep picking up injuries and hiding things. I don't know it's just weird. And Jungkook has an insane amount of money - he buys me these beautiful gifts he should not be able to afford. I don't know it's just weird." Izzy shrugged “like he bought us lunch just then”

Maddie listened attentively before pulling her sister into a hug. "I'm sure it means nothing - I wouldn't overthink it."

"Yeah I know - I think it's just uni stress mixed with this that's making me freak out. Thanks for listening though."

"That's alright Iz don't worry about it ok, you have better things to worry about, like how you found not one but seven attractive men to chill with". Both the girls laughed at that "sharing's caring you know that right?" Maddie said with a cheeky grin on her face, Izzy just laughed “plus he’s saving you some money buying us meals” she added. 

“Yeah saving us some money’s always good” Izzy laughed “just don’t wasn’t it all on cigarettes yeah?” She teased straight back. 

"Yeah yeah I'm quitting" Maddie lied brushing off the comment. 

"You know, I know when you're lying too Maddie" Izzy mimicked Maddie in a serious tone. Maddie bowed her head in shame, taking another drink from the thick straw. 

"Yeah I know, but I do want to I'm just not there quite yet" Maddie whispered her voice barely audible. 

***

Two boys sat at one of the back tables of the bubble tea cafe, pretending to be absorbed in their phones while they both snuck looks up at the two sisters as they talked and just enjoyed catching up. The elder of the two men was very short with pink hair and a sweet fairy like face while the other who seemed to be close to Izzy's age had a round face framed by reddish brown hair. They knew that the two other members of their unit were somewhere outside on the street milling about. 

The younger of the boys sighed as the girls laughed at something on Izzy's phone turning to his companion. 

"Woozi hyung I don't understand why we're on babysitting duty, don't the boys have a whole army of minions for that?"

Woozi rubbed his eyes at what felt like the one hundredth time Seungkwan had complained. "Listen I don't want to be doing this as much as you don't, but orders are orders and it's just for today. JK could have sworn he saw three of the TWICE girls hanging round the airport last night. Things are stirring up in this city."

"If TWICE were there then it wouldn't be for Madison would it? She literally just arrived from England and her only link to the underworld is the fact her big sister is obviously dating the-"

"First of all its Maddie" Woozi interrupted "and her cousin is also a link. JYP have been watching Izzy for the past 3 months and we have no idea why. We've never had problems with them before."

"They're probably just jealous that we got the deal with RM that they wanted."

"Sure, as if an empire that big would want a deal like that. You know as well as I do that Seungcheol made that deal to protect us. We're small fish in a big pond."

"I hate it when you get philosophical" Seungkwan groaned. "Why couldn't I have been paired with DK, he's much more fun."

"Because you two act like crackheads together and forget what the mission is. Listen, we're already four members down with Jun, Joshua, Minghao and Vernon gone so just suck it up."

The two girls they were watching got up and left laughing. Seungkwan sighed in relief knowing that Jeonghan and DK who were outside would now follow the girls to make sure they got home safely.

"Well after that valuable use of my time can we actually buy some bubble tea?" Seungkwan asked as Woozi rolled his eyes again but with a small smile on his face as he went up to the counter.


	12. Chapter 12

“No I’m drawing the line here” Johnny sighed “we’re not going into another stationary shop” he groaned. 

“But Johnny please I need more highlighters for my notes” Izzy grumbled. 

“I refuse” Johnny shook his head. 

“Me too” Maddie chimed in. 

“I’ll go with her” Mark mumbled giving into the beast that was Izzy. 

“Fine” Johnny sighed “me and Mads will wait over there” he announce pointing to a bench in a little green area. 

“Ok” Izzy practically sung before pulling Mark into the shop. 

Johnny and Maddie tuned and made their way to the bench wordlessly both of them exhausted from Izzy’s quest to find the perfect pens. They say down together in the beach leaning back and resting their legs after rushing around all day. “Mark needs to learn to say no” Johnny muttered. 

Maddie had to agree, first he’d totally allowed his friends or colleagues, which bracket they say under not quite clear yet, to crash into their apartment, drink their beer and eat their snacks then leave and now he was letting Izzy drag him around Seoul. It was slowly becoming clear to Maddie why Mark seemed to cancel their days out so frequently. 

Maddie opened her bag and opened the little box inside pulling out a cigarette and placing it between her lips as she rummaged around for a lighter. Before she could light it however Johnny snatched the cigarette from between her lips. “Woah, what’s that’s all about” Maddie complained as Johnny tossed the cigarette back into her bag. 

“You can’t smoke” he replied simply. 

Maddie pulled out the cigarette again and sent Johnny a glare “Umm I think you’ll find I can, and I do, and it’s no something I’m going to drop immediately” she snapped. 

Johnny just took the cigarette off her again and put it back in her bag “I don’t care if you smoke, but unless your willing to pay a 100,000 won fine then you’ll wait until we get home where you can smoke your lungs to death” 

“A fine? For what?” Maddie spluttered. 

“Smoking in public” Johnny shorted like it was obvious. 

“I’m not going to survive here” Maddie mumbled under her breath putting the cigarette back on the packet and closing her bag with a little too much frustration. 

“You’ll be fine” Johnny sighed with an eye roll “try to enjoy yourself while your here” he suggested. 

“How am I supposed to enjoy myself if I can’t smoke in public, I have my family monitoring my alcohol intake and I’m not even a legal adult over here” she countered. 

“Do shit people your age do” Johnny practically laughed “go out for chicken or go to karaoke or to the arcade or something” 

“Oh yes sounds so fun, me and all of my non existent Korean friends can go do that” she sighed with an eye roll. 

“You can make friends at school” Johnny just laughed. 

“Making friends isn’t my speciality” Maddie muttered. 

“Well you can at least try” He sighed “if not I have friends your age you can hang out with” 

“You have friends my age?” Maddie asked with a teasing smile “what sort of pedo are you?” She teased. 

“Oh zip it” Johnny sighed “I know them from work”

“From work?” Maddie countered her voice a good few tones higher “I don’t think I even want to know what your job is” 

“Get your mind out of the gutter” Johnny ground out. 

“But I’ve spent the last few years in the gutter” Maddie half whined half laughed, Johnny seemed to flinch at her words, worried she was sensitive or something but Maddie just shook her head and shoved his shoulder “I’m just joking around” 

“You’re not funny” Johnny muttered. 

“No? Shame” Maddie laughed. 

“You know dad really had to pull some strings to get you in that school” Johnny suddenly said after a few seconds of silence. 

“I don’t doubt it” Maddie sighed “no one wants an unqualified girl who’s teachers had nothing good to say about”

“Nothing good? I can’t believe that” Johnny mused “mum and dad said that you got an A*”

“Yeah in textiles” Maddie sighed. 

“What’s your point? It’s still a great grade” Johnny countered trying to cheer her up. 

“My point is that the exam is taken in January not the summer, so I got it done before I really went off the rails” Maddie explained not a hint of sadness in her voice, this clearly bothered Johnny though. 

“And to think that for a second there I thought...” Johnny trailed off bouncing off Maddie’s playful tone letting himself relax around the topic in the same way Maddie did so casually. 

Maddie just playfully slapped his arm and the two laughed lightly. Maddie and Johnny noticed Izzy and Mark making their way over to them at the same time. “Oo there’s a new bag” Johnny commented with a teasing smirk. 

“Maybe she finally found the pen that just spoke to her” Maddie added as the two teased her as she approached them u knowingly. 

“‘Pick me Izzy, I write really smoothly’” Johnny laughed taking on a silly tone making Maddie burst out laughing. 

“What’s got you two busting a gut?” Izzy asked innocently as they paused in front of them. 

“Nothing” Maddie and Johnny both laughed, this clearly not filling Izzy with confidence in their words. 

“Let’s go” Maddie laughed getting up from the bench and pulling Johnny up with her. 

“It’s uniform time” Izzy announced. 

“I can’t believe that have to wear a school uniform” Maddie grumbled “I’m literally an adult” 

“Not in Korea you’re not” Izzy corrected with a sort of smug look on her face. 

“You’re still a baby” Johnny added growing his arm over her shoulders. 

“What sort of baby’s are you hanging out with?” Mark laughed taking Maddie’s side, making her suddenly like him a thousand times more. 

“Good question, pray do tell pedo-man” Maddie teased, Johnny pulled Maddie closer to him pulling her into a sort of playful head lock. 

“What the hell happened while we were gone, who is Johnny now branded a literally child molester?” Izzy asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Just look at me right now” Maddie joked as Johnny immediately let go of her neck. 

“I forgot how annoying you were” Johnny teased. 

“You love me though” Maddie smiled batting her eyelashes. 

“Thin ice” Johnny just shot back teasing Maddie. 

“Oh come on” she mumbled. 

Johnny rolled his eyes before answering “of course I do”

***

Maddie was well and truly bored. Johnny and Mark had headed off to their peculiar jobs and Izzy had gone back to her home to study. Maddie had tried calling Alice but she must have been doing something interesting because she didn’t pick up, Maddie envied that. She’d even unpacked the vast majority of her clothes into her wardrobe, it was pretty neat and organised, thought knowing Maddie's habits it wouldn't stay that way for long though. 

She'd already set up her makeup in the makeshift dressing table and set out some of the organisers that her mother had bought her, the desk would have to serve as a dressing table and a space to work on, Maddie was determined not to bend to her parents will, but she did intend on studying enough to pass her exams so she could move to Paris and get on with her life. 

She’d bought all the school supplies she needed for the new school, and of course the uniform, which she actually didn't mind, even though it had been a few years since she had to wear one. Her parents had given Izzy some money for this exact purpose not trusting their youngest daughter to actually spend it on the uniform. 

Maddie knew she was reckless with money and had definitely wasted a large sum of her parents hard earned money but the thought that her parents suspected that she would spend all her money before she could even buy a school uniform hurt Maddie more than she cared to admit. The uniform consisted of a grey pleated skirt, white blouse, and dark blue blazer with red piping, with a choice of a jumper or cardigan for when it became cold, then also a choice of tights or socks.

Maddie still had her school shoes from her old school and she had always loved how the thick soles gave her and extra two and a half inches of height. In England this made her feel tall and powerful but Johnny playfully pointed out that once she stood at 5"8 she would be taller than a lot of the boys and most of the girls. But Izzy ha then reminded him with a smack on his arm that it was an international school so chances were she wouldn't stand out too much with her height. 

As Maddie indulged in the rare silence of the empty apartment she prepared her bag for her first day at school. It felt ridiculous to her that after she should have compelled her basic education that she would be forced the go through the first day nerves she hadn't had to deal with since she was eleven. 

Maddie laughed at her own ridiculousness, she was a person who didn't care about other people's opinions of her, you couldn’t afford to care when everyones opinions of her were bad. In an attempt to clear her mind she took to a sewing machine which she’d managed to convince her sister to let her buy with the money her parents had given her, it was now set up on her desk, with a single objective in her mind. 

Maddie absolutely hated the school skirt, at first glance it was typically pretty enough but it just fitted her all wrong and she was forced to buy a huge size to accommodate her European hips, this also meant that it was very long; so Maddie adjusted the waist to make it hug her fortunate figure just right, she also made the easy decision to re-hem the bottom of the skirt to make it significantly shorter so it sat instead of on her knee in the centre of the thigh. 

It wasn’t her intention to look too unprofessional at school but also didn't want to look like a nun so she decided it was about right. The gentle whirl of the sewing machine was an instant comfort to her racing mind as she gently coaxed the material through the needle. She took a breath and looked around the new room, after getting back she'd decorated her room with a couple of Alice paintings she'd brought with her, some fairy lights she’d bought and a singular Polaroid print out, from the camera Izzy gifted her earlier that day. 

The photo was of Maddie, Izzy, Johnny and Mark, somehow they’d managed to take a selfie by the Han river and as she looked at her smiling face she couldn’t help but feel an unfamiliar ache in her heart. It may have been the only photo she’d seen of herself in a year where she looked genuinely happy, her mind not plagued with the struggles of being the disappointment child. 

Once Maddie had finished her adjustments she sat on her desk in a similar manner to last night, opening the window just a crack. She pulled out the cigarette she was denied earlier that day and put it up. Letting the familiar smoke swarm around her lungs. Smoking had always provided a time for thought or sometimes lack thereof and as she inhaled the smoke she couldn’t help but let her mind wonder to the other inhabitants of the now empty home. 

Despite her units reservations she couldn’t help but like Mark, she'd even been able to loosen up to him slightly, his never ending stream of jokes and ridiculous laugh always made him seem very approachable, in contrast to Maddie's constant scowl and as her old teacher used to say 'dead eyes'. 

Throughout the day it had been difficult to uphold the dark persona Maddie had worn for so long , long enough that she'd convinced herself that it had become a part of her and wasn't really a persona at all. Maddie didn’t want to shake off the destructive front she put up, mainly because she wasn’t sure what she’d find underneath, she couldn’t really remember who she once was, who she truly was at the core.


	13. Chapter 13

“Who?” Maddie asked as Johnny burst into her room. 

“Just some friends, they’ll be round in a few” Johnny explained. 

“You do realise it’s my first day of school tomorrow right?” Maddie replied with a cheeky smile. 

“Yes of course” Johnny replied “which is why you will not be drinking along with the rest of us”

“Oh that’s cold” Maddie fake winced “why’ve you gotta be so mean” she whined. 

“As you said it’s your first day of school tomorrow” Johnny laughed. 

“But you can’t all drink in front of me and expect me to say sober” she grumbled. 

“Uhh yes we can” Johnny laughed “think of it like a test, if you survive the night while staying sober I’ll be more lenient with you”

“More lenient? You’re not my mother” Maddie scoffed. 

“No, that’s a horrible thought, however I am your legal guardian while you’re in this county and your living in my house rent free, so I think that’s enough to constitute to the fact that I make the rules” he replied with a smug grin knowing he’d won. 

“Ugh fine” she muttered “how about drugs?” She asked with a laugh after a few seconds. 

“That better be a joke” Johnny warned “it’s a school night” he added with a laugh, Maddie was a little concerned but mainly intrigued as to why that was the part of her question he was worried about. 

“Have you ever done drugs?” Maddie suddenly asked standing up on her bed. 

“What an odd question” Johnny mused “but yes I suppose” she shrugged. 

“weed doesn’t count” Maddie quickly clarified. 

“The answer is still yes” He ground out. 

“Ooo little Johnny’s not so innocent now is he” Maddie cooed. 

“I’ve never claimed to be innocent” Johnny quickly countered. 

“Ooo look who’s a big boy now” She teased, as Johnny turned away she jumped on his back, which was a place she spent most of her childhood, demanding that her older cousin carried her everywhere. 

“Jesus Mads” Johnny complained as he hooked her legs though his arms. 

“Too heavy for ya?” She teased. 

“No you weigh nothing, you just surprised me that’s all” he quickly corrected, Maddie knew she weighed very little for her frame, and it was because she ate very little. 

“What’s the most illegal thing you’ve done?” Maddie asked instead wondering if his criminal days only extended to drug use. 

“I can’t tell you that” he replied while sharing his head, Maddies arms wrapped around his neck. 

“Why not?” Maddie whined. 

“Because I’m sure it’s more illegal than anything you’ve done and I’m supposed to be a good influence” Johnny laughed. 

“I doubt that’s true” Maddie countered, a thousand illegal activities she’d participated in whirling through her mind. 

“Well let’s agree to disagree on that one” he laughed as he carried her to the kitchen where Mark was throwing a shot of something down his throat. 

“Woah steady yourself Mark” Maddie teased, over the past few days she’d found a sort of comfortable atmosphere with Mark and they’d gotten to the point where they teased each other freely. 

“Did Johnny grow another head what’s going on here?” Mark asked instead. 

“Wow you must really be drunk” Johnny laughed “at least wait until the boys get here”

“I had one shot” Mark grumbled. 

“Pass me one up” Maddie asked from behind Johnny. 

Mark didn’t reply but poured another one into another glass raising it up to Maddie “Mark what the fuck, she’s got school tomorrow” Johnny reminded. 

“Oh shoot I forgot” Mark muttered. 

Johnny just opened his mouth and Mark poured the liquid in accordingly. Johnny swallowed before replying “you’d be a terrible parent”

“No you’re just a spoil sport” Maddie grumbled. 

“Tell that to your teacher when you turn up to school hungover” Johnny scoffed, he lauded for a second and appeared to be focusing on something “why can I hear Haechan?”

“Because he’s coming over remember” Mark answered like Johnny was stupid. 

“No that’s not my point, how did he get into the building?” Johnny asked. 

“With a key” Mark replied even slower. 

“Why did you give him a key?” Johnny practically screeched as the sound of this Haechan and some over men approaching became louder as they thundered through the hall. 

“I didn’t but Taeyong probably has one” Mark explained “you now considering he’s in charge of us and therefore kinda owns this place”

“What does he mean?” Maddie asked in Johnny’s ear still holding onto his back “is this a company apartment or something?”

“Yeah something like that” Johnny replied quickly before the front door burst open and what could only be described as a stampede made their way for the hall, after a brief pause, to the kitchen. 

“Hey” a bunch of men all said as they made their way through the door, though they all froze once they saw Maddie on Johnny’s back. 

“Who’s she?” One of them asked. 

“Haechan we went through this in the car, that’s Maddie, Johnny’s cousin” a man Maddie faintly recognised as one of the men she’d seen in the apartment of Fridays after arriving for t he airport, she wracked her mind for a name but all that came to mind was Tae-something leaving countless possibilities. 

Maddie just loosened her legs from around Johnny’s waist and he let her drop her legs down and hop of his back. “Hi” Maddie smiled weakly. 

“Yeah guys this is Maddie” Johnny introduced pulling her to his side “my cousin before any of you get any ideas”

“Hey” a general babble of greeting sounded before Mark started shifting out the alcohol. 

Maddie couldn’t help but notice that all of the men were extremely attractive, she also couldn’t help but notice how odd it was that they were all men, not another female in sight. “Are these your friends or more colleagues?” Maddie asked. 

“Both” Johnny shrugged. 

“Do you have any fitness you don’t work with?” She asked with a teasing smile. 

“Yeah I suppose, but how do I put this? Is suppose we all work in the same field” he explained. 

“I’m going to pretend that made sense” Maddie teased. 

Johnny just rolled her eyes at her and picked up a beer bottle of his own before they all made their way to the living room. Maddie rummaged through the fridge to find a non alcoholic drink but she soon came to the conclusion that if you wanted to have a drink in this house and not get drink all you would need is the tap as that’s all they had to offer. 

Maddie fixed herself a glass and headed into the living room where the men and all sat down on various sofas some even taking the floor. “Come sit here” Mark singled over to maddie to join him and Haechan on the sofa. 

Maddie just nodded and made her way over to them taking a seat next to Mark. “I’m Haechan” be introduced from across form Maddie. 

“Maddie” she replied with a smile. 

“I’m Jungwoo” another pretty man chimed in form a near by couch. 

“I’m Yuta”

“I’m Taeil”

“I’m Doyoung”

“I’m Taeyong”

“I think we met the other night?” Maddie asked slowly trying to endure her Korean was correct. 

“Yeah I was with the others” he replied with a smile, being sure to talk slowly too so she could understand. 

“And I’m Johnny” Johnny shorted with a laugh making Mark burst out in what could only be described as drunken hysterics. 

“It’s nice to meet all of you” Maddie smiled weakly trying her best to play the sort of character she hadn’t been for such a long time. The evening slowly progressed as people got more drunk and more rowdy. Maddie however soon got bored s she wasn’t at the same level of drunk to enjoy the banter in the same way. Not to mention the fact they were all speaking in korean using slang she was too tiered to understand. 

Maddie got up from be spot she was yet to leave and headed to her room grabbing her bag and slipping on some shoes. “Where are you going?” Johnny asked seriously, all hints of his funny drunken state fading away. 

“Don’t be so serious I’m just going to go to the convenience store to pick up some thing to drink” Maddie explained. 

Johnny nodded reluctantly “it’s getting dark I’ll come with you”

“There’s really no need” Maddie insisted “I can manage” she added. 

Johnny once again nodded hesitantly and sighed “ok be back soon and don’t wonder off” he ordered going into his pocket and pulling out his wallet and handing her some money “take this and be safe” he quickly added. 

Maddie just laughed and took the money out of his hand “ok I’ll be back soon” she sighed shaking her head at him. 

“I mean it, be safe” he called after her as she made her way out of the apartment being sure to take her her keys with her. She climbed down the excessive amount of stairs and burst out into the summer night air. The smog and humidity hanging around her skin and creating a warm bubble around her. She headed down the street making a mental note of where she was going trying to follow Izzys directions from the days before. 

She wondered down the street at a pleasurable pace in no particular rush. The streets were practically empty at this time of night and most of the shops she passed were closed. The luminous green neon light of the store stood out against the dull grey of the dark concrete. She made her way into the brightly lit shop and headed over to the fridges on one side pulling out the first drink that caught her eye. 

She wondered down the isles looking at the various colourful packaging of anything from instant ramen to unfamiliar candy. She didn’t pick any up though just heading to the till where a boy who seemed about her age was paying for a pack of cigarettes. She payed him no attention just as he payed her no attention, though it did give maddie hope that her smoking habits could be sustained. 

She payed for the drink with the money Johnny gave her before wondering out of the shop again. The thought of smoking wavered around her mind but the man who’s bought the cigarettes was no where to be seen, as was anyone else. The streets were deserted so she pulled out her own packet of cigarettes, the image of blackened lungs joined with the mandatory slogan ‘smoking causes 90% of lung cancer’. 

She pulled out one of the sticks regardless of the warning and placed it between her lips as she headed back down the street, lighting the end and inhaling the smoke. She made her way slowly down the quiet street, brining the cigarette to and from her lips with one hand, the other holding the unknown drink. The quiet was oddly soothing as the only sound was that if Maddie’s exaggerated breaths as she breathed in the smoke. 

She slowly found her way back to the apartment enjoying the night air on her skin. As she approached the place that had become a home of sorts she saw a figure rested against a lamp post just outside of the building, their silhouette illuminated by the over head spot light. As she got closer the light moved and contorted letting her see that it was Taeyong resting against the pole, raising a cigarette of his own to his lips, seemingly unaware of her presence. 

“Hey” Maddie interrupted his clearly deep though and brought him back to the present. 

“Hey” Taeyong replied letting the smoke escape from the corner of his mouth blowing it in the opposite direction to Maddie, a polite thing for a smoker to do, though the familiar bitter smell of tobacco still hit her. 

Maddie just raised her own cigarette to her lips drawing his attention to her own comfort before taking a deep breath of the smoke trapping it in her lungs before letting it back out into the air. “You smoke?” He asked gesturing to her lit cigarette with his own stick between his fingers. 

“Yeah” Maddie replied simply letting herself be immersed in Taeyong’s moment, absorbing the calm, just smoking in each other’s company. Taeyong didn’t protest to her presence but he didn’t push the conversation any further letting the silence resettle as he admired the surrounding area. 

I have a question?” Maddie interrupted his quiet. He was clearly irritated at this interruption but he hummed in reply pushing her to continue so Maddie did asking something that she’d noticed within their friendship group “why do they respect you so much?”

Taeyong laughed lightly the smoke escaping his lips as he did so swirling around his head “They don’t, no enough anyway” he laughed “I suppose you could say I’m like their leader” he mused. 

“Like their boss?” Maddie pressed wondering if he was their manger form the odd job they seemed to have. 

“Yeah some sort of boss” he laughed “we just have a sort of hierarchy” he explained though Maddie was sure she could have mistranslated something. 

“Kinda like a gang?” She asked lightly. 

“Yeah kind of like that” he agreed with a smile and a nod. 

Maddie found it beyond strange that they would all choose to hang out with their boss, but Taeyong did seem a little young to be their boss, he looked no older than Johnny. This only confused Maddie further, so she just allowed the silence to resettle over them as the quiet of the night took over once more.


	14. Chapter 14

Maddie's rare blissful slumber was interrupted by the irritating siren of her alarm, she unwilling rolled over and switched off the alarm, seven am was far too early for any normal human to be forced out of bed. She rolled back over and stared at the ceiling for a good few minutes, enjoying the comfort of her white linen sheet a bit too much. She’d gotten to bed pretty late as the boys only left in the early hours of the morning. 

Eventually she managed to drag herself out of bed, she sluggishly made her way for the bathroom where she took a quick shower, and got into her new uniform. When she checked herself in the mirror she was relatively pleased with the adjustments she'd made, to the once ill fitting garments. She decided to pair it with knee high socks, as it was still hot in September. 

She was starting in the second semester a couple of weeks late, so not only was she starting new she was staring in the middle of the school year a few weeks late, as if she couldn't stick out enough. Though she knew that fitting in was not something she was likely to do. 

She moved onto her makeup doing some simple eyeshadow, her methodical skin routine meant that she had very good skin so just put on light concealer under her eyes still trying to hide the effects of jet lag and a 9 hour time difference which she hadn't quite adjusted to yet. She coated her long lashes in mascara and put a little product in her eyebrows. She opted for a more subtle 'pretty' look rather than the heavy eyeliner and powerful eyeshadow she often indulged in. 

Maddie had inherited her mothers strong German features, with high cheek bones and an angular face, more than her fathers subtle Korean heritage - if she did her makeup right you wouldn't even be able to tell she was Korean at all unless you knew it. Her dyed blond hair hid her natural chestnut shade and her natural western eye shape didn't allude to her Asian back ground either. Her eyes really showed the mix of her genes, the hazel a mix between her fathers deep brown chocolate eyes and her mother's pea green iris. 

Once Maddie was satisfied with her appearance, she wondered out into the kitchen where she was greeted with a sight to behold, Mark was cooking at the stove while Johnny was downing a cup of black coffee, both boys were dressed ready to go. Maddie hadn't lived with them for long but she knew it was rare to get them out of bed before it was the afternoon, so seeing the pair ready to go before 8 am was a bit bizarre. 

"What are you guys doing up?" Maddie asked, genuine confusion in her voice. 

"We'll take you to school" Johnny said clearly proud of himself "it is your first day after all, and we couldn't let you get lost on your way and be late for the first day"

"Aww that's so sweet Johnny" Maddie smiled teasingly, seeing through his lie instantly "Izzy told you to do it or she'd cut your balls off didn't she?"

The sheepish look on Johnnys face was all the answer she needed.

Mark snickered turning around with a frying pan in his hand "Busted Johnny. I actually did want to make you breakfast" he said gesturing to the frying pan, Maddie could now see pancakes sizzling on it. 

"Awww thanks guys, you're all a bunch of softies" Maddie giggled at how they seemed offended by her demotion of their tough personas. 

"Yeah yeah, whatever, just eat your pancakes, the maple syrups on the table" Mark mumbled a pink tint at his ears. 

Maddie did as she was told, cutting into the pancakes, even though eating breakfast was a thing she rarely did she didn't want to be rude and throw Marks efforts at being nice to her in his face "Damn these pancakes are good, how do you make them so good?" Maddie praised with a groan. 

"Mark is as Canadian as that maple syrup, so naturally he's well versed in anything you can put said syrup on" Johnny teased. "Mark can't cook anything else though, I really mean it"

"Sounds like there's a story behind that" Maddie teased before Mark quickly cut in. 

"Not one you will be hearing though" he quickly added, Maddie just laughed and returned her attention to her food. 

Maddie quickly finished up her pancakes and went to grab her school bag before rushing out of the door with the two men down the underground garage where Johnny led her. Mark was at her heals, texting into his phone with a serious expression as he muttered something about how the SuperM group chat was not meant to be used for a guy called Bacon to send memes.

Johnny paused in front of a nice sports car, it wasn't as flashy as the insane car that Jungkook had picked her up in but it was still far beyond what a young man should be able to afford, especially as she was 90% sure Johnny worked in a stationary company. Maddie was curious to find out more about their jobs but right now the only thought that consumed her mind was school. 

Maddie chewed on her lip, a nervous habit, as they passed rows and rows of skyscrapers, they traveled up town, Johnny pointing out the neighbourhood where his parents lived. The journey lasted about half an hour, both Johnny and Mark giving her tips and last minute grammar and honourifics lessons, attempting to comfort her. 

They pulled up to what looked a lot like a very normal school, driving through some large gates into a large car park where a large building loomed above her. Johnny pulled up just in front of a no parking sign, and put his car into park. Getting out of the car so Maddie could slide forward the seat and climb out. Maddie took a good few moments to compose herself before she stepped out of the car, immediately noticing that a lot of students had turned their heads to look at Maddie, Johnny and the car. Before Maddie could say her good byes though Mark stepped out of the car catching Johnny's attention and pulling him to to the side, he quickly whispered something in his ear, his eyes darting around to ensure no one was in earshot, Maddie took the hint and just opened the boot of the car to take out her school bag. 

"All ok?" Maddie asked, noticing the sudden look of alarm on Johnnys face as he made his way back to his prized possession, whatever Mark had told him it had clearly worried him. 

"Yeah all's good Maddie, don't worry, Mark just has a special assignment to do with work." He muttered before pulling out a scrap of paper "here I wrote down which subways you have to get to get back home, I can't pick you up tonight." He apologised. 

"Oh ok, that's no problem thank you" Maddie replied the prospect of having to be alone for the first time out in the city scaring her just a little. She wished that she'd known that before so maybe she could have implored her sister and her extremely attractive boyfriend to pick her up. 

"See ya Maddie" Mark smiled slinging an arm around her shoulder before getting back into the car. Maddie and Johnny quickly said goodbye but before she really had a chance to properly prep herself for what was to come he drove off, his obnoxiously loud exhaust ensuring that everyone knew they were on their way, leaving Maddie stood alone at the steps to the entrance of the school, after a deep breath and with a facade of confidence she bit the bullet and made her way inside.

As Maddie crossed the threshold into the school she was immediately transported into a bubble of confusion as she entered the school, she was surrounded by a cacophony of different languages, the walls were lined by lockers with various cliches huddled around certain areas. A group of boys came running past her causing her to spring into action. She waltzed down the corridor messily making her way to the front desk before finally locating the desk her uncle had described to her in a very jumbled text and paused in front of it. 

Maddie gently cleared her throat to get the attention of the plump woman filing her nails behind the desk, the woman looked up to her with the kind of irritated expression that let Maddie know she was being a pain. 

"My names Madison Schröder-Song" Maddie began, the woman immediately recoiled at the confusing name she had just stated, with her double barrelled German korean surname earning her a look. She'd spent her whole life being the source of confusion so she wasn't surprised by the woman's reaction. She'd tossed up using her Korean name or German name her whole life so this was really more of a joke than anything. 

"What is your korean name?" The woman asked, looking up at her over horn rimmed glasses.

Maddie tried to conceal her confusion at the question, she knew that she'd been given a Korean name by her dad but never in her life had she used it, in fact her parents made a point of never using it, so after 18 years of neglect the name had become irrelevant to the point Maddie didn't even know it herself. Unsure of how to answer she took a guess, reciting the name she used on her visa. "Song Maddie?" She said being sure to pronounce each syllable.

The woman typed something into the computer before returning Maddie's gaze. “Your Mr Suh’s niece is that right?” She asked in Korean that was a little to quick for her to follow. 

“Ugh yeah” she nodded quickly. 

"Here your timetable, your first lesson is maths in M1" she replied in a monotone voice, she didn't make it easy for Maddie's untrained ears to pick up the Korean she spewed out of her mouth so only after a few seconds of mental translating did she understand why the woman was handing her a piece of paper. The term despite only recently starting had clearly already squashed her morale, if indeed she had any enthusiasm in the fist place. 

"Felix!" She suddenly yelled over Maddie's shoulder, stunning her at the sudden change in dynamics, Maddie spun to see an orange haired boy also slowly and reluctantly turn around, he had been sprinting in the other direction, he let out a sigh eyeing up both Maddie and the rude receptionist before he sluggishly made his way over to the desk 

"yes?" He replied an irritation in his voice he didn't even try to disguise. 

"Felix you have maths as well as Maddie, she is a new student and shares most of the classes as you, take her with you" the woman demanded, and with that the woman turned away leaving a clearly frustrated Felix and a cold Maddie to correspond to their own accord. 

He started down the hall and nodded his head for Maddie to follow which she did so obediently walking a step behind him, her arms crossed over her chest. 

"You English?" He's assumed switching languages, a thick Australian accent setting in his deep velvety voice. 

"Yeah" Maddie answered briefly. 

"Britain?" He assumed picking up on her distinct west London accent 

"Yeah, London" Maddie explained. 

"What are you doing here then?" Felix pushed. 

"I'm here to go to school" Maddie snapped back a sudden coldness in her voice which Felix picked up on. She wasn't keen on getting into a conversation about her reasoning for her trip, that was a slippery slope that required too much brain power that she wasn't willing to put in. 

"Listen, I'm not trying to be your best friend but drop the attitude" Felix replied in a no nonsense tone. 

“Fine by me” Maddie snapped. 

Felix just scoffed and ignored her ensuring you walk a pace in front of her 

"And here I was thinking the brits were known for their politeness" Felix muttered on a teasing tone, the jokes rolling easily off his tongue. 

"I guess I'm an anomaly then" Maddie shot back.

Felix just sighed and shook his head before ignoring Maddie just like she wanted him to. She didn’t need new friends anyway. She wouldn’t be here long. Maddie followed him into a class room, he immediately abandoned her at the front of the room so she made her way for the teacher. “I’m Song Maddie” she introduced in a nonchalant tone. 

The teacher looked up reluctantly and made eye contact with Maddie, looking her up and down before sighing “your the one we were warned about” she muttered. 

Maddie couldn’t help the smirk that came to her face, it was funny to know that even halfway across the world her reputation proceeded her. “Yeah probably” she replied with a smirk. 

“Well in that case you can sit here at what front with the other trouble makers” she announced. 

Maddie just scoffed and took the seat she gestured to, Felix was sitting on the table of another boy next to her, supposedly the other ‘trouble maker’ as she’d so eloquently put it. “Felix take your seat” she snapped forming Felix to reluctantly slide of the table not stopping his conversation, he slowly made his way for the back of the class room on the opposite side to where Maddie and the other boy sat, it was blatantly obvious that they must have been sepearated for a reason. 

The teacher started the lesson but Maddie didn’t pay any attention, instead of getting on with the work she doodled on her hand with her biro frustrating her very first teacher in Korea. “Madison” she snapped once the rest of the class was getting on with some problems”

“Mm” she hummed back from where she was leaning back on her chair her legs stretched out in front of her. 

“Why haven’t you done any of the work?” She snapped. 

Maddie just looked up at her and replied in crystal clear English “I don’t speak Korean” 

The teacher sighed and shook her head at her, this being an international school it was likely this wasn’t her first time dealing with this particular situation “why you not doing the work?” She repeated in broken English. 

“I don’t want to do it” she shrugged. 

“You need to work” is all she repeated. 

“Why?” Maddie asked a smirk on her lips, she could tell the teacher was having a hard time keeping up the conversation in English. 

“Because you at school” she replied reluctantly, her face showing that she might know this wouldn’t have any effect. 

“Ok, what’s your point?” She repeated. 

The teacher sighed and looked flustered s instead of answering she snapped at the white class who had begun so murmur amount themselves taking advantage of Maddie’s blatant refusal. “Everyone quiet” she snapped “Felix come tot the front” she added. 

Felix there his arms up in the air and complained “what did I do wrong?” He muttered slowly getting up from his chair and making his way to the front returning to where he was earlier next to the boy sitting at the desk next to Maddie. 

“You need to translate for me, so I can get her to work” she sighed making Maddie snicker slightly. 

“Tell her that if she doesn’t do her work I’ll kick her out of the class” she said to Felix expecting him to translate. 

Felix just looked down at her with a light smile clearly finding all of this very amusing. “She says that you’ll be kicked out of the class” Felix replied. 

“Oh shame” Maddie poured sarcastically “tell her I’d be delighted” she replied. 

Felix just laughed to himself, his friend next or him laughing too, he quickly translated her sentiments only angering the teacher more. Maddie knew how to play this game, if she didn’t want to the here the teachers would do everything in their power to keep her there giving her immortality. The teacher turned back to Felix and hastily added something else and smiled with a new sense of superiority. 

Maddie look up at Felix expectantly waiting for him to translate “she says you’ll get a punishment” he explained in his deep Australian accent. 

“Tell her that I don’t care, she can’t shoot me” Maddie shrugged “though that would be fine too” she muttered under her breath. 

Felix just scoffed and translated her answer, she shrugged and replied something to Felix making the whole class erupt in ‘oo’s. “She says that you have to go to detention today after school” he explained. 

Maddie checked her watch theatrically and sighed with a fake pout before answering his time looking directly at the teacher “no I can’t make it tonight I’ve got other engagements, maybe we could have our little date another day” 

Felix and the boy next to him both laughed at her comment only furthering Maddies smirk and as soon as Felix translated the entire class burst out laughing too. The teacher was glowing red now and began to yell at her in rapid Korean that she couldn’t be bothered to understand. Felix began to translate but Maddie just placed her hand on his arm “don’t bother” she hushed, letting the teacher go crazy, the rest of the class silenced but Maddie just sat back and took the thunder. 

Once she was to fished, her breathing now uneven Maddie just swiped her thumb across her cheek very slowly, everyones eyes on her. She sat up straight in her chair and whipped her hand on her skirt “you spat a little” she replied in perfect Korean, she’d spent her entire lecture with her spittle being throw at her coming up with that phrase and it had the desired effect. 

The whole class erupted in giggles only frustrating the teacher more. “Please continue your class, I won’t stop you” Maddie added in English which Felix quickly translated unprompted. 

She just clicked her young and turned from Maddie who was slumped back into her chair, she walked to the front of the class but as she passed Maddies chair she failed to notice Madura outstretched legs and tripped over them. She managed to regain her balance instead of toppling to the floor but the damage was done the class was in floods of laughter. 

“Sorry” Maddie said with sarcasm dripping off her lips which were turned up in a smirk. 

The teacher just straightened herself out and tried to regain control of the class before continuing the lesson. And as Maddie had promised she didn’t stop her and didn’t speak once for the rest of the class, she also completed no work. Though as she left the teacher made it very clear that she would need to attend the detention she refused earlier if she wanted to stay in this class, which for her futures sake she did want to be, if she was kicked out of a class she’d have to say goodbye to Paris. 

She muddled her way through the morning doing everything in her power to piss off her parents from the other side of the world. She was going to start working and she was going to pass her exams, but she was definitely going to give those around her some grief first. She wouldn’t bow down and change into the perfect girl her parents wanted her to be. 

Throughout the morning she’d managed to be yelled at by two teachers and made one of them cry when she refused to speak in either English or Korean. In fact her German skills came in rather useful when a particularly grouchy chemistry teacher began to yell at her in rapid Korean she didn’t understand so she just stood there calmly waiting till he finished before promptly yelling at him in equally rapid German. The rest of the class had found this hysterical, him not so much. 

This had resulted in her being kicked out of the third classroom she’d been in. When lunch rolled around she was dragged to some office by the said chemistry teacher where she waited to supposedly be told off again. A short secretary came out of the room and announced that she could now go into office. She reluctantly stood up and dragged herself to the office. 

But as soon as she entered she froze “hey uncle” she smiled sweetly. 

“Maddie” he dead panned “take a seat”

Maddie did as she was told taking the seat in front of his desk which he gesture to as she silently cursed herself. Why him? Out all all the teachers in this building why him? “Now I hoped we could meet and catch up over a nice dinner but here you are” he scolded. 

“Here I am” Maddie smiled straight back his words having no effect on her. 

“I hoped that you’d make a change” he admitted. 

“Rome wasn’t built in a day” she shrugged sitting back in the chair. 

“No but they sure as hell did start” he countered his voice getting a bit more aggressive “I had to work very hard to get you in, as a favour to your father and this is how you repay me? By embarrassing me on your first day?” 

“You knew what you were getting yourself into” Maddie scoffed “I’m sure you’ve heard all the stories”

“Maybe but I had hope for you” he sighed “all your family do, we want what’s best for you” 

“What’s best for me was back in London where I could waste my life before it finally fucking ended” Maddie sighed “but instead I’m here living out someone else’s dream life that I don’t want”

“People would fight for your opportunities, for your privilege” he snapped. 

“Then let them have it I can drop out tomorrow and someone else can have my spot” she snapped straight back. 

“No Madison” he countered “you will stay here and you will work hard and get your life back on track” 

“Why?” Maddie shrugged “its not what I want”

“No but it’s what you need” he emphasised “if got what to achieve any of your goals you need to do this” he snapped “I know about your deal with your father, if you can do this then you can go to Paris” he sighed. 

“I gave up on that dream when I ruined my life the first time around” she muttered. 

“Yes and you were given another chance, another life so you could achieve that dream and you’re already ruining it” he sighed “I don’t think this news would help your case back home or your case to go to Paris” 

“No your right it wouldn’t” Maddie sighed “looks like I’ve already fucked up so what’s the point in trying anymore it’s over again”

“No it’s not” he snapped “I won’t tell your father if this if you can swear that you’ll at least try to behave in class, I’m not asking you to be a model student but at least don’t send teachers crying to my office”

“If you don’t tell my dad I’ll tone it down” Maddie agreed. 

“Ok but I need to see immediate progress, start building Rome” he insisted. 

“Ok fine” she sighed “one last thing and I swear I’ll clam down if you do this, can you get me out of detention tonight?”

“No Maddie, you need to learn to take the punishments for your mistakes” he sighed. 

Maddie sighed and muttered “shame, can’t you spin come sob story about how I’m going through a hard time?”

“No Maddie” he sighed “You never know what you might get out of this if you try” he added with a sad smile. 

“No I guess I will never know” Maddie agreed getting up form the seat and beading to the door “say ‘hi’ to auntie for me” she added on her way out. 

“Say ‘hi’ to Johnny for me” he replied with a safe smile. 

“I will” she replied before leaving the office promptly. 

She wondered around the deserted halls for a while everyone else supposedly in lunch, she headed straight to the first fire escape she saw and opened the door carefully hoping it didn’t set off an alarm which thankfully it didn’t, she nudged her phone between the door and the frame to keep it open. 

She pulled out her cigarette packet form her inside blazer pocket and sat down on the iron grate after brushing it off a little. She lit up the cigarette not even trying to be subtle as she inhaled the smoke looking out onto the surrounding sports fields where some boys were playing with a football. She watched absently as the goalkeeper failed to save a goal and as another raced around the field spinning their blazer above their head like a victory banner. Maddie could almost imagine the sound of his cheers. 

She just laughed lightly to herself and inhaled the smoke of the cigarette letting it be a comfort to her as it swirled around her lungs. She let the smoke escape her lips trying to blow it in the same direction as the wind so the smell didn’t stick to her clothes, she’d done this before and was smart enough to know what to do if you didn’t want to be caught. 

She had gone into the day with no intention of being as destructive and poorly behaved as she’d needed up being, but something about being back inside class room had sparked a side to her that she hadn’t used in such a long time, having ditched school completely after Easter that year. She didn’t want to mess this up immediately but when she sat down in that class she knew she couldn’t do it. 

She couldn’t be the perfect student or the ideal daughter like her sister. She just couldn’t change that quickly. Old habits die hard and this sort of behaviour had been habit for years, she couldn’t really remember when the last time she sat down on a class and actually did everything the teacher wanted her to. Apart from textiles which was predominantly independent work she really hadn’t done the right thing in a class for years, that is of course if she even turned up. 

That was another thing, she’d showed up to the class hadn’t she, she was wearing the uniform though it definitely wasn’t regulation anymore but all the students modified their uniform with a casual sweater or something. She’d showed up and she wasn’t going to be destructive until the teacher began to pick a bone with her not completing the work, or in one class falling asleep against the desk. Which again she didn’t think was her fault. If it was anyone’s it should be Mark and Johnny and their friend’s for keeping her awake last night.


	15. Chapter 15

Maddie finished writing her last line that the person running detention had set her. She’d taken the liberty of translating the phrase into the three languages she spoke rotating them as she wrote out the lines. The phrase ‘I will obey my teachers and behave in class’ was now written in three languages and two alphabets across the three pages she was required to fill so with a tired yawn she made her way to the front of the class passing all the other problematic students.

She placed the paper in front of the teacher who sat lazily at the front of the desk. “Can I go now?” She asked with raised eyebrows as the teacher cast their eyes over the page. 

“Sure” he shrugged tossing the paper onto a pile. The whole ordeal had taken about half and hour after after she was promptly told her first attempt, which was realistically just scribbles wouldn’t do. 

She crossed back through the class to where her bag had been dumped by her previously and picked it up doing up the zip before she made her way out of the class room casting her eyes one last time over the room before heading down the now deserted corridor. She felt pretty relieved that Mark and Johnny wouldn’t be picking her up or even be home so she didn’t have to explain why she’d be so late out of school. 

Her uncle had let her off this time though she was aware that he leniency would only stretch so far. Spending summers with them in Chicago it became clear to her that her own father was unusually strict compared to Johnny or Alice’s parents and Izzy had often speculated that that was one of the reasons Maddie went so off the rails, through Maddie didn’t agree, she thought it had more to do with her sister than her father. 

Despite her uncles constant kindness to her throughout her life she was sure that he would have to be professional and treat her in the same way he would any other student. Maddie followed general signs for the metro station though her Hangul skills weren’t polished enough for it to be easy for her. After a while of wondering around trying to find the station she eventually stumbled across it. 

Through once she was inside she was only more lost, the maps and Johnny’s brief and frankly useless description being no help to her. The bustle of people in the city continued to live past her like a relentless current that Maddie was slowly swept up in. This unfortunately led to Maddie standing on one of the trains headed in a direction she could only hope was right. She cursed herself for making her shirt so short as she held onto the overhead grips. 

Maddie didn’t wait long, just a few stops, before she decided that it was probably best to get off the mystery train and figure out an actual route home. She sluggishly got off the carriage along with the flow of other people getting off, battling against the people trying to push past to get in. She couldn’t help but note how different it was for London the people there having an unspoken order to how they did things. 

Maddie wondered around the grimy station in search of another map which even now she couldn’t study, the lines and words all blurring to make an almighty mess. With a defeated sigh she tried to make the most out of an unfortunate situation turning and following the exit signs that would lead her out of the underground labyrinth. Once she reduced the end of the signs she headed up the steps to street level. 

The part of town she was in seemed relatively nice, and it came across as more of a trendy, arty part of town with fashionable university students wondering around with overpriced drinks in hand. Maddie let a small smile ghost her lips, in this part of town no one looked the same, some with dark grunge styles and a full sleeve of tattoos even spreading up their necks, others dressed in tiny skirts and cute cropped jumpers. 

This was the kind of place Maddie could stay in for a long time so with nothing better to do she stepped onto the street and began wondering down the high street. As she passed groups of friends she noticed that there weren’t that many people in school uniform like her, though there were people her sort of age wondering around, Maddie assumed it was a popular destination with young people for its vibrancy and bubbly demeanour. 

Maddie passed all sorts of independent shops from hair and makeup stylists to small art galleries. One shop though caught her attention particularly, it seemed like a tailor shop with intriguing pieces in the window display, but what really caught her attention in the window was the printed out announcement ‘hiring now, creative designer’. Without really thinking through things Maddie entered the store, the little bell announcing her entrance to the seemingly empty shop. 

The interior of the shop was sort of rustic, with a red brick wall on one side the rest white, it looked exactly like a studio should, a large consultant table in the middle of the room, there was a small counter in front of a door which presumably led to the actual work room of the shop.

Maddie walked up to the counter and rung the old fashioned bell which sat on top of it assuming it would alert whoever worked there if her presence. A short man, aged with time and hard work walked out of the door behind the counter looking at Maddie through thick glasses with a judgmental gaze, she was clearly not a common customer. 

"Hello, my name is Song Maddie" she introduced politely thrusting her hand in his direction, she'd decided to keep her name as simple as possible. 

The man reluctantly shook her hand with an inquisitive gaze “I saw the sign” she added pointing to the window, suddenly unsure that she’d translated it correctly. 

“You want a job?” He asked reluctantly. 

“Yes” Maddie nodded. 

“Why don’t you take a seat” he suggested gesturing to the table, Maddie did as she was told following the short ma for he table. She noticed how he spoke slowly and clearly for her benefit. 

“Do you have any-“ he asked but the last part of his sentence was lost in translation. 

“Sorry?” Maddie asked apologetically. 

He repressed himself but Maddie was none the wiser so he clearly searched his mind before answering in coherent English “experience? Do you have any experience?”

Maddie sighed in understanding and nodded “I did textiles in England” she explained not fully sure how to translate the words for ‘a-level’ “I got an A*” she added. 

The man nodded seemingly slightly impressed “you have photo?” He asked continuing his half of the conversation in English. 

Maddie nodded hastily and pulled out her phone scrolling back through her photos having to look at some unfortunate memories as she did so, she finally arrived at the section of her work. She passed him the phone and let him scroll through just hoping he didn’t got too far. 

He took a long time to scroll through them as Maddie sat there awkwardly before he replied "Lots of this work is very creative, it's very ‘avant-garde’, that'll get you places in the fashion world" he praised in surprisingly accurate English "but the work we do here is more ‘haute-couture’, and we end up doing a lot of expensive costume pieces or even just tailoring" he explained. 

"Well, I can definitely do that" Maddie quickly assured. 

"I'm sure" he nodded “you design and make all this?” He asked. 

Maddie quickly nodded “yes I did it all independently”

He nodded a hint of respect in his eyes “you have any thing you sew with you?" He questioned. Maddie immediately went into panic mode, all of her sewing was at home and not even in her Seoul home but thousands of miles away back in London, shoved in a cupboard somewhere, apart from the few garments that she'd made for herself that she'd bought with her. 

"Umm no I don't think so" she sighed looking down at her lap in irritation where she was fiddling with the hem of her skirt, her head immediately shot up again "I re-hemmed this skirt and adjusted the fit around the waist!" 

"Can I look?" He asked gesturing for Maddie to stand up, which she did obediently, she took a few steps over to him as he took a knee next to her turning up the hem of the skirt, trying his best to preserve her privacy as much as possible. 

"We alter a lot of garments" he said still looking at the stitching "it's quite technical with the pleats" he complimented standing up again 

“Thank you” Maddie smiled. 

“You seem young” he added hesitantly. 

“I am young but I work hard” she lied through a forced smile. 

“Good” he nodded his accent coming through particularly strongly. 

“I pay you 9000 won an hour to start” he explained, Maddie wasn’t sure how much that translated to but she nodded hastily. 

He seemed a little taken back by her eagerness suggesting to Maddie that perhaps she’d just agreed to be criminally underpaid but she realised she didn’t care. She wasn’t doing this for the money anyway, she didn’t need money, she needed experience and an escape from studying and school, and further an escape from the apartment every now and again. “You work after school then” he suggested practically handing her the job. 

Maddie couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face, her very first job interview had been so unexpected but so successful “yes that would be great” she smiled. 

“No weekends” he added though. 

Maddie nodded “even better”

“You start tomorrow” he explained “come after school as quick as possible” he added, though he’d clearly come to the end of his English speaking tether and he was slowly losing vocabulary and more likely effort. 

“Great thank you so much” she smiled “what’s your name?” She quickly added, the realisation that she had no idea hitting her. 

“Mr Park” he replied, Maddie nearly chuckled to herself as she could have taken a random guess herself and likely have been correct, his generic name roaming off the tongue. “I see you tomorrow Miss Song” he added getting up from the chair and the table. 

Maddie followed suit and for up shouldering her bag once more. She followed him to the counter where he scribbled down her name on what looked like should have been used as a calendar “we have another English speaking worker who can help you” he explained switching to Korean. 

“Great thank you” Maddie smiled. 

“He is my friends son and can show you the roped tomorrow when he finally shows up to work” he muttered. 

“Thank you very much Mr Park, I will work hard” Maddie insisted with a smile. 

He just nodded slowly and made his way to the door, Maddie wordlessly following him, he reached past the mannequins in the window and pulled down the job advert before opening the door for Maddie to leave through. But she hesitated quickly and turned to him “I’m sorry but I’m new to the city” she mumbled “I need directions to get home can you help me?” She asked reciting a passage out of a phrase book she’d been forced to study before coming here, in fact it was the same book she’d gifted Izzy before she left the previous year. 

The man sighed and let the door close before nodding “show me the address” he sighed. 

Maddie did as she was told and pulled out her phone getting up a map, he very diligently explained to her where she was and where she had to go to get home, and it tuned out she wasn’t too far, only having taken slightly the wrong train. Once she’d engraved his directions she headed back out into the dimming evening. The sun still having low in the sky casting a golden hue on the city. 

She quickly headed home following the signs he’d told her to before she forgot them. On the entire journey back to the apartment she couldn’t help but feel a little relieved, like despite everything that had admittedly gone very wrong today, she had indeed done something good. Of course her parents wouldn’t think so, as any distraction from studying would be viewed as a crime, but she knew it was a good thing for her, and her future too. 

She laughed lightly to herself, because despite her protesting and her kicking and shouting not to change, here she was planning for a future. Something she hadn’t indulged in before, never thinking she’d make it long enough to live out a future. She sighed with a happy smile and leant back in the seat she’d managed to snatch as the busy rush hour drew more and more passengers onto the carriage. 

***

“Come on little lady” the vile man cooed down her neck making the hairs involuntary stand on ends, but she wasn’t scared, men like him didn’t scare her, not anymore.

“Little lady?” She repeated with a smirk. 

“You can’t hurt me” he laughed grabbing her hips firmly from behind. That was the last straw. 

“Can’t I?” She asked with wide eyes and a playful whine to her voice. 

“No you’re just a weak little girl” he added pulling her closer to him. 

Hana just smiled and slashed the dagger in her hand across his abdomen, the proximity between them allowing the perfect cut. With a grunt the man staggered away from Hana his hands clutching his abdomen. “Just a weak little girl?” She cooed “oh baby, you don’t know anything”

“Who are you?” The man sputtered as he fell to the floor, blood spewing out of his mouth as he spoke. 

“Hana Saito, baby” she replied with a smirk, as her name fell from her lips the colour from his face immediately disappeared, though that could have to do with the fact he was only just holding his guts in his body. 

The man opened his mouth to speak but before he could his head fell limp against his chest, his neck slumping down. His arms slowly fell away from his stomach and the sight of his glistening internal organs shone in the minimal light of the dark alley she’d managed to lure him into. The stench of blood and exposed body parts filled the alley with a bitter stench. 

Hana looked down at her silver dagger, the handle embellished with priceless gems, it had been a gift from a client to be used on a very particular mission years ago, but the high quality metal remained useful to this day. She crouched down so she was level with the slumped over man, his once pristine white dinner suite now a dark red. She carefully wiped the dark liquid off her knife and onto the jacket before standing up and heading out of the alley. 

She slid the dagger back into its holster which was strapped onto the inside of her leg, the high slit in her hall gown allowing access. She bushed off her dress and readjusted her clutch before heading out into the night. She walked on her tall stilettos for a while before reaching the car she’d been given to drive for this mission. She stepped into the low sports car, closing the door behind her. 

She pulled out her burn phone bought especially for this purpose, she quickly texted the only number in it, letting them know that the mission had been a success, there had been no bumps, everything went perfectly sleekly. Like it always did. With a satisfied smirk she pulled out onto the road, the heels being no hinderance in her impressive driving. 

As she drove through the city heading back to her secret home her mind was filled with thoughts of the large pay check that would be in her bank at any second but she was pulled away from fantasising about all the expensive things she would buy when a phone began to ring, the tone one reserved for one caller only. She sighed by picked up the call putting it on speaker so she could continue to drive. 

“Soojin, it’s been a while” she spoke down the line. 

“It certainly has” the mans guttural voice replied. 

“What can I do for you knower days?” She asked “because you know I work for a price and it’s no secret your bosses scattered” she smirked. 

“Bosses?” He scoffed “you forget I only ever worked for one of them” he spat. 

“Of course” Hana nodded “what does he want?”

“Two individuals to be watched” Soojin replied. 

“Watched?” Hana scoffed “I’m an assassin not a babysitter”

“But Hana the price we would be willing to pay for you to watch them, it would double anything a blood contract could provide you with” Soojin replied with a drawl. 

Hana was materialistic, it was a trait she didn’t bother to hide, she didn’t see the need. It’s also what made her job so desirable, huge sums of money just to take someone out, it was easy money. “I’m interested” Hana replied cautiously, after their downfall years ago she didn’t expect to ever hear from Kang Soojin again. 

“How does 750 000 000 won per person sound?” Soojin drawled, he knew he’d got her. 

“Who are they?” Hana asked quickly. 

“Two sisters, Song Eunha and Eunji” he replied. 

“J’s daughters” Hana marvelled “they’re in the city?”

“Maybe and if they are you’re going to find them” Soojin added. 

“Well that’ll be an extra cost” Hana quickly explained “it’s one thing watching people, but it’s another finding girls who disappeared years ago” 

“Naturally you will be compensated” Soojin insisted. 

“We have a deal” Hana replied with a smirk. 

“I’ll be in touch with the details”


	16. Chapter 16

Maddie put out her sixth cigarette of the night, leaving it a glowing stub along with the other five slightly smoking sticks. And the four empty beer bottles that rested on her desk. Johnny had texted her a few hours ago to tell her that he wouldn't be home until very late, when she would be in bed, so he told her to order takeaway or something similar and head to bed, he even suggested studying letting her know that her uncle clearly hadn't been in contact with his son. 

Mark was also out, where Maddie wasn't one hundred percent sure but as he worked at the same place as Johnny he also probably had some strange working hours. Maddie wondered around the apartment bored out of her mind. As she did so she couldn't help but notice how nice it really was, it was in a good central spot, had a good view, wasn't too noisy for a city, which only made Maddie more curious as to what her cousin and his friends actually did for a living. 

Maddie just sighed and opened the fridge again instinctively going to grab another bottle of beer, but it suddenly became obvious to get that she'd drunk the last one and there was. This was a problem for many reasons, one because she'd have to explain to Johnny why when he left there were four beers in the fridge and why now there were none, and also because Maddie was still bored out of her kind and the alcohol and nicotine were the only things keeping her from buying a one way ticket out of the city. 

With a sigh Maddie slammed the fridge closed and rummaged around the kitchen searching for a liquor cabinet. When she finally found it she browsed the multicoloured bottles before pulling out one that looked remotely like vodka, it had a legible 40% on it letting her know she was probably about right. She opened another cupboard which she knew had the glasses in and pulled out a double shot glass. 

She poured a sloppy double shot and poured it down her throat enjoying the way it sort of burned. She'd had beyond an awful day, every teacher already had a thing against her when she arrived in their class room, already assuming the worst so that's exactly what she'd given them, even after her uncles warnings she still didn't play the perfect student or pretend to be someone she wasn't. The alcohol was helping her forget all about that though. 

As a general rule the more alcohols she drank the easier it was to forget everything but then she oils undoubtedly make more mistakes which required more alcohol to forget throwing her into a vicious circle that had lasted for the past few years. She suddenly missed home, but not her parents or apartment she missed the familiarity of the city, how she knew how to get to her favourite night club like the route was engraved into her skin. 

As she mused about her home town her drunken brain came up with a wonderfully terrible idea. Without consulting the still rational side of her she grabbed her phone and the vodka bottle leaving the shit glass where it was. She opened google and typed in 'best night clubs near me' tapping the top one, it was called 'Dark & Wild'. She rushed back to her room and threw open her wardrobe, already messing up the organised arrangement which had only lasted a day or so. 

She pulled out a small black dress that was nothing special and tossed it on her bed before stripping off the remaining uniform she hadn't been bothered to take off yet. She pulled off her shirt and shirt and tossed them in the back of her desk chair where her blazer was already discarded. She quickly pulled on the black dress, the art of all of her clubbing outfits was that she didn't need anyone to help her get into them. 

She pulled down the skirt which was shorter than she remembered and quickly sat down on the clothes covered chair applying some more makeup on taking sips straight from the bottle everyone and again. Though with the vodka and her general mood she didn't care that much and quickly gave up satisfied with a simple look. She looked through her cupboard but quickly pulled out a pair of chunky black trainers slipping them on she also grabbed some jewellery and alerted a few silver chain necklaces and somehow managing in her drunk state to replace her small earrings with some hoops. 

She grabbed a bag and tossed her keys, phone, wallet and of course a packet of cigarettes and a lighter into it before tossing it over her arm. The September night still wasn't too cold so she just headed directly out of the apartment, the door closing and locking behind her as she raced down the stairs to street level. The road was illuminated only by the street lamps and she raced to the road where she waved over the first cab she saw. 

The alcohol in her veins was keeping her sufficiently warm as she jumped into the cab. She managed to use enough Korean to send the driver in the right direction of this club 'dark & wild' and soon they were driving away from the apartment and that part of town. The journey wasn't too long and soon they pulled up to what was clearly a partying district. Back at the apartment everything had be silent and the city looked dead. 

But here the city was a pulsing jungle of likeminded people. She jumped out of the taxi paying the driver before wondering onto the street, it became clear to her that this club was very popular, the queue to get in stretched for what seemed like forever. Maddie was starting to regret picking the most popular club but she'd got into clubs and skipped queues many times before. 

Unfortunately the bouncer looked a bit too good at his job to let her in with a wink and flash of cleavage so she looked around for a target she could hijack to get into the club. It was as though her prayers had been miraculously answered because she watched two men much older than her get out of an expensive car which a club worker quickly got into and drive away. This was clearly not a club with valet service so she knew that they would be able to get in. 

***

Jun squinted his eyes as he watched a pretty girl approach him and Minghao as they made their to the club. My some miracle Jun had been convinced to go out with Minghao despite the fact that it was a mundane Monday, the girl didn't appear to be prepared to get out of their way, and Jun noticed her eyes darting from Jun harsh gaze to Minghao's easy going expression. 

"Hey babe" she girl smiled grabbing loosely into Minghao's arm, her voice already slurred with alcohol, her Korean a bit shaky letting Jun know that she was as much of a foreigner as he was. 

She must be very drunk to think Minghao was her boyfriend but he clearly didn't think so he just smiled down "hi darling, so glad you could make it" he replied with a smirk, clearly Jun had missed something because he'd never seen this girl before in his life. 

Minghao held out his arm so she could loop herself around it and continued walking towards the club. Jun looked over the girls head at Minghao trying to catch his attention and when he finally caught his eye and sent his a questioning expression Minghao just smirked and chuckled lightly. As expected when they made their way in front of the queue and to the bouncer they were let directly into the club, even the girl was allowed in free of charge. 

As soon as they entered the club the girl let go of Minghao's arm and sent him a slurred smile "thanks" she grinned up at him. 

"No worries" Minghao shrugged with an irritating smirk. 

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek only boosting his ego further before making her way into the club solo. "What the fuck was that?" Jun deadpanned to his friend. 

"What?" Minghao laughed "come on that was harmless"

"Harmless? Harmless for who? The security of the club, the bouncers job, the people queuing for hours?" Jun scoffed "for all you know she could be some crazy JYP chick"

"Come on" Minghao scoffed "she's just a young girl who wants to party, like us" he shrugged. 

"You don't think things though enough" Jun muttered. 

"And you think about things too much" Minghao laughed. 

***

Maddie wondered into the club taking in her surroundings, the interior had a sort of grungy style and she hadn't noticed it before but she was pleased to realise that her attire matched the vibe of the other club goers and the general interior of the club. Everything was in a monochromatic colour plate, black and white being the staple shades, but every now and again there would be a dash of red, the lighting was also red instantly creating a sexy sort of atmosphere. 

She looked over her shoulder to see the two men she'd taken advantage of heading into the club behind her. She didn't pay them any attention though, just heading straight to a bar. Naturally lots of the space we dominated by the dance floor which contained an intertwined mess of people, with little booths curling the area providing areas for people to sit down and drink. 

She made her way directly over to the bar looking at the huge chalk board behind it, listing all of their cocktails. There were so many strange names like 'rain', '24/7 heaven', 'jump' and 'tomorrow' but one caught her eye in particular so she called over the bar tender, leaning across the bar so she could order her drink over the loud pulsing music from the dance floor. 

"Can I have the 'danger' please" she asked her voice raised, the man just nodded with a sly smile. 

"Would you like 'bulletproof' with that?" He asked with a grin, she didn't know what secret drink she'd stumbled upon but she was curious. 

"Sure" she yelled back, resting against the bar as he prepared the drink, looking back out into the club. 

"Here you go" the bartender yelled after a minute or so, Maddie spun around to bee greeted with an impossibly red drink, a black straw and a dried citrus fruit that was also somehow back. 

She pulled the drink towards her and payed the bartender with some cash in her bag which admittedly her parents had given her for any other purpose than buying alcohol on a Monday night. Maddie smelt the drink cautiously but couldn't place any particular smell at all. She brought it to her and wrapped her lips around the straw, contrasting to how the drink was scentless it was packed with flavour. 

A mixture of citrus fruits and grenadine, and of course a cacophony of different alcohols swirled around her tongue. She hastily took another drink from it the taste having an addictive nature. As she stood at the bar sipping her drink a man came to the bar to order drinks, Maddie looked him up and down, his long-ish hair and tattoos immediately drawing her in. 

He seemed like one of those grunge boys who would pretend to do something illegal for a photo and a persona and it was oddly endearing to her, cute almost. She'd doing herself being attracted to criminals repeatedly over the past few years, after experiencing the thrill of criminality she'd begun to surround herself with them and more often than not enjoying other types of thrill with them. 

The man caught Maddie staring at him shamelessly and when their eyes connected he smirked at her doing some checking out of his own. She smiled coyly and took another sip of her drink. He grinned at her as his drink was made. Maddie waited patiently for him to come over, but once he got his drink he seemed hesitant, and then it became clear why, as the bartender handed him and other drink, something like a daiquiri, and then promptly a pretty girl joined his side. 

Maddie sighed and rolled her eyes with a teasing smile, he smirked back at her handing the girl her drink without taking his eyes off Maddie. This unfortunately for the couple caused the girl to go crazy snapping at her boyfriend, who now resembled more of a lost puppy than his previous enticing self. 

Maddie smiled to herself and continued to sip on her drink. As she looked around something caught her attention, out of the corner of her eye she saw a black door that blended into the wall swing open. She immediately drew her attention to the people who exited. A sorry excuse of a man was stifling against his restraints as he was strung between two tall bulky men who seemed like legitimate versions of the man at the bar. 

A tall, insanely attractive man followed them out, his broad shoulders and perfect proportions being reason enough to look into the scene which was slowly unfolding. Over the sound of the loud music she couldn't make out what was being said but the man flanked by the brutish men seemed to be begging the tall handsome man for something, what? Maddie wanted to know. 

She watched intently as the handsome man just stood their unfazed by his pleas, not even bothering to cast his eyes down on the man. Then with a swift motion he brought his hand up and waved it casually, as soon as he did so the two men pulled the fighting man away from him, only making him shout and beg more. The man was soon dragged out of Maddie's sight, where he was going to what was going to happen to him a mystery Maddie was happy leaving enticingly unsolved. 

The handsome man brushed off his suit and adjusted his jacket before going to turn back into the room, as he did so though Maddie could have sworn that their eyes locked and for a split second it felt as though her every cell was being analysed and deemed unfit as he squinted at her. But before she even had a chance to react he turned away from her and headed back into the invisible room. 

Maddie pushed it aside and put it down to the odd effects that the drink was already having on her. What ever 'bulletproof' was she was nearly certain it wasn't alcohol and probably wasn't legal. Regardless she finished the drink and after finishing some more drinks she got strangers to buy her with some simple flirting she was ready to move onto the dance floor where she spent the next good few hours tangled in the pulsing body of people, letting the effects of the alcohol, mysterious substance and a terrible day she wanted to forget take her someplace else as she danced with anyone and everyone. 

*** 

"Get her out" Jin ground out as he watched the club from afar, he'd been watching the girl all night and he had an unshakeable premonition that something was going to go wrong, she'd had plenty of looks that's she'd entertained and had been grabbed and touched without complaining. And it bothered him, she was letting herself be walked all over and used, maybe because she wanted to do some using of her own too, but he wasn't going to allow it on his watch. 

"Sorry sir?" The manager of the club asked, Jin and the rest of BTS very rarely overlooked the running of their oldest club anymore, and left it largely in employee's hands, but every now and again it could be used for other purposes, such as tonight it had provided him with the perfect place to send a man to his death. 

"The trio there in the back dress" he extolled though he quickly realised that his description matched many people "the blonde girl, get her out"

"Why though sir?" He asked "she's made no trouble, she's brought drinks, she's keeping other customers around, she's the perfect customer"

"Are you seriously questioning me?" Jim asked with a disbelieving scoff, he hadn't been told no in a very long time.

The mans eye immediately widened and he spluttered apologises trying to justify his behaviour "that's not what I meant at all sir, I'll see to it right away" the older man muttered with a bow. 

"And don't be sloppy about it, I want her in a payed cab home not just chucked onto the he street" he added sternly. 

"How are we supposed to know her address?" The manager muttered. 

"Do I need to show you how to do your job?" Jin snapped, it had been a long day and his patients was wearing thin. 

"No I'm sorry sir" the man spluttered bowing as he walked backwards away from Jin before finally spinning around and rushing to do as he was told. Jin couldn't help but muse how much easier things were when they were all in his and his fellow members control, when things had just been small scale. But now he was a co-founder and co-owner of the biggest gang in the whole world, they'd built an empire from scratched and now they had to rule over it. 

Jin watched from his spot as the poor drunk girl was pulled from the dance floor, too drunk for her protests to be any use, only solidifying Jin's faith in his decision, if she couldn't fight to stay in the dance floor she shouldn't fight off an imposing man if she wanted to and it bothered him. He was well aware that the chain of drugs and other circles such as the brothels and more illegal workers he was muddled un in went against this behaviour, and his instinct. But in order to survive, and really thrive in this world you had to block out you conscience and ignore the things you didn't want to see. 

No doubt the majority of the dance floor would currently be intoxicated by a drug slipped in their drink, so,e would have asked for it, others would have no idea why they were having such a good time, others, though very few, would be safe. 

***

Johnny turned the last corner before he was on the home stretch to get back to his apartment and his bed. The evening in the casino had exhausted him more than he would like to admit, the constant work load finally catching up with him, you'd think in a Monday work would be slow, but the city never stopped and never took a break. As Johnny pulled up in front of the apartment to drive the car into the underground garage he froze. 

The headlights of a parked cab shone into his eyes only letting him see the silhouette of a stumbling figure making their way out. He cursed under his breath as he thought he recognised the girl, he begged for his eyes to be playing tricks on him, he prayed that he was just tiered, but it became clear to him all too quickly that the person stumbling getting out of a car was none other than his baby cousin, the cousin he was in charge of, the one he was responsible for. 

The girl who had been trusted to him because she needed more help than anyone else could give, the girl who was stuck in a destructive cycle. That cousin was getting light of a Taxi pissed drunk on a Monday after what was supposed to be her first positive day of school. It was clear that the school day hadn't been the one Johnny had fantasised about for her, with instant new friends and new found love for learning. 

Johnny quickly pulled the car over and parked it on the curb, not something he did ever. Always afraid of what the vile city could do to his baby if she was left out for anyone to see and touch. But regardless he put the car into park without a second though pt and jumped out of his car. The taxi driver was probing her up somewhat so Johnny dished over to them taking Maddie's weight off them. Maddie looked rough, her hair was messy and her makeup smudged, her lips were swollen and puffy and she only had one earring left. 

"Who are you?" The taxi driver asked harshly pulling Maddie back to him, the side. Movement making her look a bit green "I was given strict instructions to get her home safe so leave her" he snapped. 

"No sir" Johnny sighed "she's my cousin we live together" he insisted. 

"You sure?" He asked cautiously but it was clear he wanted it to be true so he could get in with his night too. 

"Yes sir" Johnny insisted taking Maddie back "where did you bring her from?"

"The Dark & Wild night club, I don't doubt a young man like you knows it" he replied. 

Johnny felt his face physically fall in disbelief, out of everywhere she could have been she had to go to a BTS club.

That was enough to get the man to let go of his cousin and without another look he headed back to his taxi "what do I owe you?" Johnny called after him. 

"It's been taken care of" the driver snapped back waving skinny away with one hand before getting into his car and quickly driving off leaving Johnny and a very drunk Maddie on the side of the road. 

"Mads?" Johnny asked cautiously, he was beyond angry but there was no point letting his anger out on a drunk version of his cousin who wouldn't remember any of it tomorrow. No, he was going to wait until she was stone cold sober and then tear her to pieces. 

Maddie just groaned in reply leaning on Johnny "I'm lonely" Maddie suddenly muttered as Johnny walked her to the front door, already dreading the staircase. 

"It's ok Mads your safe" Johnny sighed pushing her through the door. 

"I like party's" Maddie sighed. 

"I can tell" Johnny scoffed, he felt utterly let down that he'd trusted Maddie and she'd fine up behind his back and gone directly against his orders. But he also felt a twinge of guilt, he shouldn't have left her after her first day of school, he should have put his actual family before his other type of family for once. 

After the first few steps it became clear that Maddie wouldn't make it up the three sets of stairs quickly enough before she would either pass out or throw up so Johnny quickly came to the conclusion to pick her up. He carried her up the stairs, her resting in his back and carried her the whole way into the apartment. When he finally out her down she looked behind tiered and he wasn't sure how much longer she could go without falling down. Johnny took her shoes off her and her cross body bag off her that he was amazed she'd managed to hold onto, he checked the contents and all necessities seemed to be in tack, her phone house keys and wallet all there. 

Johnny worked as quickly as he could working with the tiny part of a Maddie that was still coherent to get her changed and into her pyjamas, he rummaged through her stuff in the bathroom and found some makeup wipes and used them to get most of the makeup off her face, she could deal with the rest in the morning as a reminder of her major mess up. He then ticked her it to bed, her eyes open but her kind void of all activity, she was scarily brain dead, making Johnny worry that she hadn't just stick to booze that evening. 

He tucked her into bed and placed the designated vomit bucket by her bed. Living with tones of other boys at one point he'd learnt that a vomit bucket was a staple for any household. He noticed empty beer bottles but only collected an open vodka bottle from her desk and carried it with him out of the room switching off her overhead light as he left. With an irritated sigh he took the bottle back to the kitchen where he found exactly what he would have expected the abandoned lid and shot glass. He cleared up after her and headed to the fridge to get himself a cool beer. 

Though it became clear to him too that the empty beer bottles in Maddie's dressing tasked had been the last ones. In his tiered state he had to admit he was more first rated that she'd drunk all the beer than disobeyed him. He couldn't have Maddie messing up, not just for her but for his whole families sake. He would have a tighter hood in her, that much was obvious, he just needs to figure out how he could get this right, having Maddie around would be a lot more complicated than having her sister, but Johnny had always liked a challenge. 

As Johnny wondered around the kitchen fixing himself something else to drink he headed Marks keys rattle in the door as he finally came home, his day undoubtedly having been just as hectic as Johnny's and he didn't even have to deal with a clingy drunk relative.


	17. Chapter 17

Maddie woke up to the sound of power tools whirring a little too loud for her liking. Her mind was banging like someone was drilling into her skull instead of whatever they were doing in the next room. The blinds were wide open and the room was flooded with early morning light. Maddie groaned and rolled over in her bed burying her face into her pillow. 

She only had foggy memories of the previous night, which was odd because she didn't remember drinking that much and alcohol hadn't given her this bad of a hangover in a very long time. She could vaguely remember drinking something she'd never had before, something she'd assumed at the time to be a drug of some sort. She had no recollection of how she got home, but she couldn't imagine it was subtle. 

When the intrusive sound of the power tools didn't stop Maddie rolled over in her big bed and slowly sat up, her head swirling despite her precautions. She managed to get out of bed, hammers still bashing into her skull. She caught sight of herself int the mirror in her bedroom and groaned. She liked beyond bad, she looked half dead, black remnants of mascara was smudged around her eyes and her hair looked like a birds nest. 

With a sigh she made her way out of her bedroom, the sound of the drill getting louder as she headed down the hall. She then saw Johnny standing on a step ladder just outside of the open front door, an open tool box by his feet. As Maddie padded towards him the sound of the drill finally stopped, now just ringing in her ears. 

"Good morning" Johnny ground out his tone cold, contrasting to the greeting. 

Maddie wasn't sure what to say, she wasn't sure what he already knew so she asked another questions instead "what are you doing?" She mumbled, her voice hoarse from her dry throat. 

"Installing a security camera" Johnny muttered. 

"Why?" Maddie asked cautiously. 

"So I get a notification every time someone goes in or out of the door" he deadpanned.

"Johnny-" Maddie begun but she trialed off "is that really necessary?" She finally asked. 

"Apparently so" he muttered "because I can't trust people not to sneak out in the middle of the night and go to a fucking night club" Johnny snapped, his voice more aggressive than Maddie had hoped. 

"I'm so sorry-" Maddie began to stutter but Johnny cut her off with the sound of the drill whirring once more. Maddie just sighed and headed to the kitchen where she found Mark sitting at the counter with his head in his hands. Maddie didn't say anything and instead just picked up a glass and filled it with water before downing the entire glass in a few seconds, she filled it up again and repeated the process. 

"He's so mad at you dude" Mark muttered from the counter. 

"You don't say" Maddie scoffed opening the liquor cabinet and pulling out a random bottle. 

"More alcohol?" Mark muttered looking over at her "is that really a good idea with Johnny about to go crazy?" 

"No" Maddie admitted "but if I'm going to school I need a little something to carry me through"

"Come on you don't need it" Mark sighed. 

"No I swear it's science" she insisted "Drinking alcohol prevents the conversion of methanol to formaldehyde, or something like that"

"You're way too smart to be throwing your life away" is all Mark replied but he didn't protest as she took a single shot of the liquor before putting it back in the cabinet. 

The sound of the power drills had died down and Maddie could hear Johnny shuffling back into the he apartment. "The CCTV is a little excessive" Maddie muttered to Mark. 

"He's going to do whatever it takes so that doesn't happen again" Mark shrugged, being about as useful as a teaspoon. 

Maddie flinched as she heard Johnny storm through the apartment, before eventually crashing into the kitchen, to the displeasure of both Maddie and Mark. "Maddie, I'm going to give you one minute to explain yourself before I tear you to shreds" Johnny announced, and he seemed a bit too serious for Maddie's taste. 

"I'm so sorry Johnny, but I had such an awful day yesterday, and when I came home I got bored and so I started drinking and then I got the idea to go clubbing while I was drunk so I just went" Maddie explained hastily. 

"You 'just went'?" Johnny muttered in disbelief "you 'just went' to a fucking Bangtan club?" 

Maddie's face immediately dropped "that was a BTS club?" She muttered. 

"Yes, the oldest and most developed of their clubs" Johnny scoffed "I can't believe you went against me and did that" Johnny sighed. 

"I'm so sorry Johnny, it's just a reflex habit" she tried to explain. 

"Maddie you went to a genuinely dangerous place, on a Monday, without telling anyone" he sighed "I understand that this is hard adjustment for you to make, but what if something had gone wrong? What if something happened to you and no one even knew where you were?"

"I'm sorr-" Maddie tired to interject but Johnny just pressed on. 

"No Maddie let me finish, this is very dangerous city and you haven't been here long enough to understand that, I doubt you would have even known how to get home" he snapped "I understand that you're angry, and you don't want this but my god Maddie you can't do this to me"

"I'm sorry Johnny" Maddie sighed "I know I've let you down" 

"I've tried to be lenient with you and I've not been that strict, I've let you smoke and drink a bit, but you really took the length I gave you and ran with it, you've crossed the line Maddie" Johnny added. 

Maddie felt her eyes begin to swirl with tears, not because he was angry at her, she could take relentless abuse, it was because under all of his scolding he clearly cared about her. With a mixture of alcohol and a hangover a single tear began to stream down her face, it was quickly joined by another one and she soon became a sobbing mess, fumbling with useless apologies. 

Johnny sighed and immediately pulled her into his chest where she continued to cry "it's ok Maddie" he hushed "I'm not angry at you, I'm just disappointed in both you and myself, we've let each other down" 

"No Johnny, this isn't your fault I'm so sorry" she sobbed. 

"No we can both take blame for this one" he insisted "but things are going to have to change ok?"

Maddie nodded against his chest, her arms still pulled tightly around him, her head still thumping against the constraints of her skull. "For starters there's no clubbing at all" he insisted. 

"At all?" Maddie whispered back. 

"Not until October when your nineteen and legally even old enough to get into clubs" he sighed "I have no idea how you got in and frankly I don't want to know, but you won't be going out clubbing, especially because it's illegal" 

Maddie just nodded again her breathing and crying calming down "I tired to be accommodating because I know the legal age is different in England but for now you will abide by the Korean laws" 

"That makes sense" she sighed "does that mean I can't drink at all?" 

"No" Johnny quickly shook his head "I think that you're old enough to make that decision for yourself, you can drink at home when Mark or I are around"

Maddie nodded "ok" she whispered "are you going to tell my dad?" She quickly asked. 

Johnny chuckled and Maddie could feel his chest vibrate against her head "no" he laughed "if anyone finds out about this it's not just you who will be killed, I'll be killed five times over, one from your parents, one from my parents, one from our grandparents, and the last two from that demon sister of yours"

"How can she kill you twice?" Maddie laughed lightly, enjoying the change in tone. 

"She would find a way" Johnny muttered making both Maddie and Mark who had sat there quietly throughout the endeavour laugh. 

Mark stumbled off his stool and came up behind Maddie wrapping his arms around Maddie so she was sandwiched between Mark and Johnny "I'm glad that's over" he muttered "I don't like Johnny when he's mad"

"Me neither" Maddie muttered. 

"Both of you are so lucky to have me" Johnny just sighed lightly making the younger two laugh again. 

Once they'd all let for of each other Johnny turned to Maddie "just because I'm being nice to you doesn't mean you're off the hook" he warned "you have to earn back my trust"

"You're taking this whole 'legal guardian' thing a bit too seriously" Maddie teased. 

"No I'm not" he pouted like a child "I though that was pretty good" he shrugged with a smile he was trying to force off his face. 

"It was a good first try" Maddie teased. 

Johnny just pushed Maddies head and laughed "just get ready for school, I'll drop you this morning"

Maddie just smiled and did as she was told trying to rectify her unfortunate appearance before heading to school. She took a long shower, washing her hair as she did so, once she wiped away the remaining makeup she was greeted by dark enough circles to be mistaken for a black hole. She made herself look a bit more presentable, adding makeup to her puffy face. She noticed that her lips were still swollen alluding to forgotten memories. 

Maddie had magically made herself look presentable so she made her way to the kitchen grabbing another drink of water. "You ready to go?" Johnny asked putting down his now empty coffee mug. 

"Yeah" Maddie hummed in rely "bye Mark" she smiled giving him a loose hug before following Johnny out of the building and into the garage. 

"You know I had to leave my car on the street yesterday when I was looking after you" he scoffed. 

"So?" Maddie laughed. 

"Well any thing could have happened" he exclaimed as he got into the car. 

Maddie followed suit and jumped in "yeah but nothing did" she laughed. 

"But I could have"

"But it didn't"

"You need to start planning for the worst" Johnny muttered. 

"I do plan for the worst but I have a magical trait called 'not caring about the outcome'" she joked. 

Johnny just shook his head and pulled out onto the street making his way tot the school "I never did find out, how was yesterday? I mean clearly not good but what happened?" Johnny asked as he drove. 

"Did your dad not tell you?" Maddie uttered. 

"No, why? Did you get sent to my dads office on your first day?" He asked in disbelief. 

"Maybe" she admitted. 

"You're are truly unbelievable" he muttered under his breath "what did you do then?"

"I made a teacher cry" Maddie deadpanned in reply. 

"How!?"

"Well, I refused to do the work, refused to speak in Korean or English and yelled at them a bit" Maddie replied. 

"You are a nightmare" Johnny teased "though that does sound pretty funny"

"It was" Maddie nodded. 

"But never do it again, like I said earlier I don't want to be killed" he quickly added. 

"You've got it, I'll try to keep a low profile" Maddie assured. 

"Good" Johnny sighed "listen Mads, I really did mean what I said earlier, about understanding, not when I went crazy"

Maddie just sighed, despite his assurances she didn't quite believe him "really Maddie, we haven't spoken to each other in years and believe it or not your not the only one in the family who hasn't been conservative so to say"

"What do you mean?" Maddie immediately asked. 

"I just mean I know this must be hard for you, but we're here for you, me and Izzy and hell even Mark"

"Thanks Johnny" Maddie sighed "I appreciate it"

"It's ok kiddo" Johnny smiled softly "so have you made friends yet?"

"Well between the yelling, getting kicked out of class rooms, and being sent to offices, no I haven't really had time" Maddie joked. 

"Do you even want friends?" Johnny asked reluctantly. 

"Nope" Maddie shrugged. 

"Why not?" Johnny marvelled. 

"Whats the point? I'm not going to be here long and I have you and Iz, and Mark I suppose" Maddie shrugged. 

"Well you'll always have us" Johnny sighed "why not try for some other friends?"

"Maybe" Maddie shrugged giving in so Johnny would let the topic go, admittedly it wasn't that Maddie didn't want friends it was more that she wasn't sure she would get any even if she tried, and if she didn't try she couldn't fail. 

Johnny pulled up to the school once again, and parked in a random free spot. Accept it became clear to Maddie in a heart beat that it want random, once she's translated the sign they'd parked in front of Maddie burst out laughing "Johnny you've got to be kidding" Johnny grinned over at Maddie and the two laughed their guts out. 

***

"You've got to be fucking kidding me" Mr Suh sighed as he pulled up to the school he'd worked at for too long and not got enough credit for. 

He was already running late which was why having his own parking spot was a necessity, he'd requested one from the school years ago and here it finally was, and now there was some punk parked in his spot. As he drove across the car park having to dodge brainless students he squinted at the car in his spot. And as he approached it became more and more clear that none other than his sons obnoxious car was parked in his spot. 

There were no other spots around so he pulled up to his spot and parked his car in front of the rows of commuter cars. As he jumped out of the car he watched his son and niece do the same. "Hey Dad" Johnny grinned at him with an amused smiled. 

He could have slapped that smile right off of his lips. "Johnny, what is this?" He complained with outstretched arms. 

"I'm just dropping Mads here off at school" Johnny shrugged innocently, Maddie doing the best she could to hold in her laugh. 

"And why are you in my spot?" He deadpanned. 

"Oh this is your spot?" Johnny mused "I saw 'Suh' and assumed it was for me"

He just sighed and shook his head at his sons idiocy "you drive me crazy" he mumbled. 

"Don't worry I'll get out your spot" Johnny laughed "but you haven't seen your son in so long and this is all you have to say to him?"

"Just out my spot you punk, I've got classes to teach" he grumbled though a smile tugged at his lips as he saw his son and niece both genuinely laugh. 

"Alright alright I'm going" Johnny laughed "see you Mads" he added pulling his cousin into a friendly hug. 

"See you Johnny" Maddie grinned hugging him back before he got back into his car and finally moved out of his parking spot. 

***

Maddie fiddled with the lock of the locker she'd been assigned trying to figure out how to set a combination. As she did so she could feel people's eyes on her, why? She wasn't sure, maybe because news of her frequent blow ups yesterday had got out the school, or maybe it was because as Johnny had argued with his dad they'd accumulated a small audience. 

Maddie felt a sudden snap, a change of attention in the hallway, Maddie looked up briefly to see a group of five boys make their way down the hall, Maddie immediately recognised some of them from her classes letting her know that they were in her year. The whole hallway was enticed by them as they just walked down the corridor. The girls swooned as they wondered down, and admittedly they were all extremely attractive, but Maddie wasn't one to stare and make a fool out of herself so she just rolled her eyes and turned back to her locker. 

Maddie could feel the group of boys come up by her and pause next to her locker. But once Maddie had finally figured out how it worked she shoved a bag in her locker and slammed it closed. As she did so she could see that one of the boys, maybe one of the ones from her chemistry class, had the locker next to her. Now she realised that she was getting looks not because of her but because she had a locker next to this boy, it was apparently an envious position. 

Once again Maddie rolled her eyes and went to leave, having to push past crowds of girls to get back out into the hall, the five boys creating quite the commotion. Maddie just sighed and headed to her class which was unsurprisingly extremely boring. As were the rest of the classes she had to endure that morning. 

Though as she wondered out of the classroom with everyone else to go to lunch she was just glad she hadn't been sent to see her uncle again, she hadn't yelled at any teachers, she had been scolded but not shouted at, and she'd even done a few maths equations after she got extremely bored. 

She made her way to her locker to dump her books and pick up a pack of cigarettes for her lunch time meal. As she turned the corner she groaned, the five boys who seemed to be untouchable were making their way from the locker next to Maddie's and were storming down the hall five across, leaving no room for anyone else. All of the weak minded people immediately flocked to the sides, pressing against the lockers to stay out of their way. 

But that wasn't Maddie's style so she just continued walking down the centre of the corridor, this led her heading directly for the boy in the middle, who also happened to be the owner of the locker next to hers. He smirked as she made her way to the five boys, he clearly assumed that she'd move out of his way eventually, he was very much mistaken. 

He took his eyes off Maddie turning to talk to one of the boys by his side who Maddie recognised as Felix. Maddie just sighed and continued walking until she pushed between the group of boys, their shoulders colliding with a solidity that took her off guard. Through she didn't dare stumble, the corridor was filled with a sudden hush as people gasped that Maddie may have the audacity to plough though their top clique, but as always she didn't care. 

"Hey" she heard one of the boys call out to her, she spun around on her heels slowly so she was facing them, she saw the boy in the centre looking at her with a disgusted expression, Maddie just scoffed and sighed. 

"What?" Maddie snapped looking him up and down. 

The man looked aghast and Maddie was remotely aware that everyone in the hall had stopped what they were doing to watch what would happen next "you just shoved into me" the man spat. 

"I didn't realise you were so delicate" Maddie laughed "does it hurt?" She cooed with a patronising tone. 

The hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, all of his friends were staring at Maddie too, though everyone else in the hall had their eyes in the dangerously attractive face opposite her. "Don't be rude" the other person she'd shoved past added in. 

Maddie just rolled her eyes "get over it" she scoffed "I was just walking the same as you" as she made her excuses she hoped that she was speaking coherent enough Korean for her words to have any effect. 

"You should have moved out of the way" the boy in the centre continued, Maddie wasn't one to get flustered by a boys good looks but this guy was something else. 

"So should have you" Maddie shrugged "you're not special, so come down from the clouds Princess" she scoffed. 

"The clouds?" He stuttered. 

"Yeah how is the air up there anyway?" Maddie teased at the taller man. Without waiting for his response or reaction Maddie tuned back around and headed to her locker, opening it and shoving her books inside as she intended. She heard the five boys mutter between themselves before they too got on with their days and as soon as they left the hall suddenly burst back into life as everyone moved on. 

Maddie sighed and slid the cigarette packet she'd been keeping in her bag into her pocket before heading back out onto the same spot she'd found yesterday. Ignoring the whispers and stares she got as she left behind the mundane school corridors. 

***

Maddie was more than just excited, she'd never had a job before, and here she was starting her first job in a small tailor, admittedly she may not be doing any designing or making but she was just excited to be there and finally getting an experience worth putting on her CV. She was a very experienced person and was enormously street smart but the only sort of experiences she'd had we're definitely not the kinds of things future employers wanted to know. 

She took a deep breath before pushing open the door, she wondered cautiously into the store, only a few seconds after she the door swung closed behind her someone came out of the back room with some fabrics in hand. Maddie's jaw dropped open when she immediately recognised the boy stood behind the counter. "You?" The boy muttered "what are you doing here?"

"I got a job here" Maddie explained immediately sounding really defensive. 

"You want to work in a tailor?" He scoffed. 

"And what about it?" Maddie snapped. 

"Just wouldn't expect someone like you to work here" he shrugged "it's a nice high end place"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maddie shot back. 

"Nothing" he shrugged again. 

"You work here too then?" Maddie asked cautiously. 

"Yeah" Felix deadpanned, Maddie groaned and muttered under her breath, she really wanted to do well here and now there was one of the only people in the city who had witnessed her less fortunate qualities here to spin all sorts of stories about her.

The door behind Felix swung open and Mr Park joined him behind the counter "Maddie" he smiled "this is Felix, he speaks English too"

"We go to the same school" Felix quickly informed. 

"Is that so?" He mused 

"Yeah" Maddie confirmed. 

"Well looks like you'll have a friend while you work here then" Mr Park smiled innocently. 

Maddie just gave him a tight lipped smile before he continued and took her through to the work room which turned out to be a trendy studio with several sewing machines stationed at different points around the room, each one accompanied by an ironing board and iron; a desk, and all various sewing materials one may need. 

"This is the work room" he said a small sense of pride in his voice, he quickly introduced her to the two other tailors working in the room before moving on. 

"Right so you'll be working here" he said pointing to one of the stations, Maddie wasn't expecting to immediately get a job actually tailoring she assumed she would be organising fabric and clearing up not actually sewing, and evidently her surprise showed on her face. 

"Wow, thank you Sir" she grinned enthusiasm ebbing from her words. 

"You won't be sewing today purely because I have nothing for you to do, but we're expecting a big order in tomorrow, go out with Felix and he'll show you how things are run" Mr Park informed a no nonsense attitude about him. Maddie thanked him profusely and followed his instructions as she headed back out to where Felix was working. 

As Maddie exited the door behind the counter Felix looked up from what he was doing, spinning around on his chair to face Maddie "Mr Park sent me out, he said you should run me through things" Maddie explained reluctantly, Felix just nodded and put down the pen he was twirling thorough his fingers, though it was clear he didn't want to be with her just as much as she didn't want to be with him. 

"Ok" he nodded "so basically; this is the front room where all our clients come and talk to mr Park or one of the tailors" he said pointing out the obvious "then if you follow me" he said stepping out from behind there counter and heading over to a door which led to a small room lined with fabrics from past projects "this is the fabric room, usually we order in new fabric for each garment but if we have any left over we keep it in here, I don't really know why, I think the guys use it to practice new concepts or designs with" he shrugged moving over to another door stopping in front of it "this leads to Mr Parks place above the shop, if you need the toilet there's one just below the stairs behind this door" Maddie nodded along, taking in all the new information. 

After the brief tour and after Felix had fully explained everything work related, and once Maddie had discussed the terms of her employment and had subsequently been thrusted back into Felix's care, the two of them stood there in an awkward silence, neither knowing what to say to break the silence, that was admittedly probably best lest unbroken, considering Maddie had been rude to him and his friends just a few hours earlier. 

"You really got Hyunjin riled up earlier" Felix commented from where he was flipping through a calendar. 

"Hyunjin?" Maddie replied, not quite sure which one of Felix's friends she'd particularly offended. 

"Tall, black hair, the one you crashed into" Felix explained. 

"Oh the over dramatic spineless boy with an ego the size of the ocean" Maddie mused. 

Felix just scoffed at her and rolled his eyes clearly fed up with the constant jabs "you don't even know him" 

"I know he's overhyped" Maddie shrugged "he's just some boy with attitudinal problems"

"You're one to talk about attitude" Felix scoffed. 

"At least I don't pretend to be some god" Maddie snapped back "you walk around the school like you own it, but the worlds bigger than high school"

Felix actually started laughing at that point instantly irritating Maddie "trust me, I know the worlds bigger than that trivial shit" he muttered. 

"What ever you say" Maddie rolled her eyes. 

"Why do you make a point to be so rude?" Felix asked "what's the point?"

"It's not that I try to be rude, it's that I don't have the inclination to bother to hide my true feelings" Maddie shrugged. 

"Somehow I don't believe that" Felix shrugged. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maddie snapped.

"Just that I don't think you're exactly presenting your true feelings to the world" Felix explained "I don't believe this act for a second"

"You don't know me" Maddie shot back "you haven't got a clue about me"

Felix sighed and stood up from where he was leaning down "true" he nodded "and I doubt your going to let me know you so let's just be civil enough to get by" he suggested. 

"Fine."


End file.
